Summary: Cigna has sued an Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe attorney, claiming that the attorney, his family, and his son’s occupational therapist submitted fraudulent claims to receive money.
On Monday, Cigna filed a complaint against David Ridenour, an associate attorney with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. According to the American Lawyer, Cigna argues that it paid roughly $539,000 due to misrepresentations made by Ridenour, his wife Laura, and an occupational therapist named Beatrice Bruno. Cigna argues that Bruno even used some of the cash to purchase a Cadillac Escalade for the couple.
A village justice was recently convicted for insurance fraud.
Ridenour, who practices in Orrick’s Washington, D.C. office, sued Cigna in July, arguing that it failed to properly cover his son’s care after an accident caused a severe skull fracture in the 7-month-old baby.
According to Cigna’s complaint, the Ridenours’ son, called “B.R.,” fractured his skull after he fell three feet from a bathroom counter. After the 2009 accident, a pediatrician prescribed rehabilitative treatment, including occupational therapy and speech therapy.
The therapy was prescribed for a “severe traumatic brain injury,” but Cigna argues that the child was never diagnosed with such a condition. Around May 2011, the Ridenours brought their son to a Skill Builders occupational therapy clinic in Virginia, where Bruno was employed. After a year or so, Bruno started providing supplementary therapy for the boy at the Ridenours’ home on the weekends.
Farid Fata received a 45-year sentence for fraudulent cancer diagnoses.
In June of 2012, Bruno resigned from Skill Builders, due to her plan to move to Hawaii. Before she left, Laura Ridenour asked Bruno to treat the child for a year at a rate of $200 per hour. This rate was more than six times what Bruno earned in her previous job at Skill Builders. Bruno accepted, and lived at the Ridenours’ home rent-free. Cigna alleges that Bruno assumed that her expenses would be reimbursed by the insurance claims.
The complaint adds that the Ridenours asked to be reimbursed for seven hours of therapy per day, but that Bruno spent a great deal of time babysitting the couple’s children and grocery shopping for the family. In total, the claims submitted to Cigna by the Ridenours exceed $800,000. Thus far, Cigna has paid out around $539,000.
Bruno allegedly used some of the proceeds to purchase a pricy road bicycle and to pay a personal trainer to help her prepare for triathlons.
The complaint continues that in April of 2013, Bruno moved to Hawaii. Laura and the kids, including B.R., tagged along as well. David remained in the D.C. area, and continued to work for Orrick.
Laura and the children stayed in Hawaii until 2014. While they were there, Bruno purchased a Cadillac Escalade for the Ridenours to use. According to the complaint, the generous gift was to convince the Ridenours to submit fraudulent insurance claims.
However, despite any alleged misdeeds, David Ridenour, who was represented by Kantor & Kantor, sued Cigna in July, claiming $335,000 in unpaid insurance claims. Ridenour argued that Cigna delayed and underpaid his son’s claims.
The California case is pending.
Source: American Lawyer
Photo credit: geoffreygnathanlaw.com, orrick.com (Ridenour)