For firms handling hundreds or even thousands of claims, automated authentication tools are a vital security component for preventing fraud and associated penalties. Without authentication safety measures in place, the firm could face substantial penalties for simply failing to catch a small number of frivolous claims.
This is exactly what happened to a Mass Tort firm during the 3M Litigation.
Upon being contacted by an overseas lawyer, the firm signed more than 1,000 cases of Ugandan nationals who worked on US air bases in Africa. Medical information was sufficient, claimant information was consistent, and there was no glaring indication that the submissions were fabricated. The cases continued to move forward throughout the trial because the supporting documentation appeared valid, and there was no mechanism to verify each claimant's identity.
When the damages were awarded, and the defense had to finalize payments, one lawyer noticed that many of the Ugandans’ audiograms—a substantial piece of evidence demonstrating hearing ability—appeared to be fabricated. After the defense raised concerns, the court appointed a special master, who went on to prove that all but four of the claims from Uganda were fraudulent, with many of them not even representing actual people. Per the special master’s recommendation, the judge threw out all of the Alabama firm’s cases, ordered the firm to return more than $800,000 in settlement funds and attorney fees, and demanded it pay an additional $50,000 in sanctions.
This situation illustrates why a manual case review is no longer sufficient for fully vetting claims. Even though the supporting documents appeared valid to the human eye, there was no mechanism to authenticate each client or scan for patterns across submissions or confirm that the individuals behind the records were real.
SimplyConvert’s Instant Case Evaluator has features, such as two-factor authentication, to catch discrepancies and fraud that the standard law firm case review process likely would not.
In this example, the issue was not only that documents were fabricated, but also that there was no reliable process to confirm each claimant was real. An intake system with two-factor authentication would have provided a first level of defence to prevent this fraud from manifesting at the onset of each case. If each of the Ugandan claimants were required to confirm their phone number and email through two-factor authentication, they would not have been able to move their cases so far through the trial.
SimplyConvert’s Instant Case Evaluator ensures the cases it relays to your firm are indeed those of real people. In a time where claims are undergoing unprecedented scrutiny, such as the new Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1, and penalties for fraud are more severe than ever, your firm needs to embrace the available technology that will protect you from fraudulent claims.