Fender Bender Turns into Major Fraud

An Issaquah, WA local pled guilty to insurance fraud last week after authorities accused her of scamming more than $300,000 from two insurance companies following a minor fender-bender.

Linda Rose was involved in a minor fender-bender in a Sammamish, WA parking lot in November of 2004.  Court documents state that Rose was hit at a “very low speed” by an SUV being driven by Margaret Jobe. 

According to the Seattle PI, Rose then demanded payment from all three of Jobe’s insurance companies after going to several doctors complaining of back pain from the incident. Rose provided what appeared to be legitimate past medical records which showed several records for treatment to her knee, but no prior existing problems to her back.

“Progressive paid $250,000 of the settlement. But when Rose tried to squeeze the remaining $550,000 from RLI, the company got suspicious and dug up Rose’s true medical records. It discovered that Rose had repeatedly replaced the word “back” with “knee” in the records, and that she had suffered from back pain since 2000, according to court documents.”

Beyond scamming the insurance companies, Rose also had gone after the other driver, suing both Margaret Jobe and her husband.  The case eventually settled with the Jobe’s for more than $800,000. The judgment thus released the Jobes from liability and enabled Rose to pursue further claims against two additional insurers.

Rose eventually pled guilty last week to three counts of “false claims or proof.”  Unfortunately for the Jobes, they are still feeling the effects of this greedy scam by having to pay more than $15,000 in legal fees and suffering a hit to their credit score due to the judgment made against them. One can only feel sympathy for the Jobes and what they had to endure throughout this scheme perpetrated by Rose to defraud their carriers. Fraudulent claims like this not only hurt the insurance carriers, they also have an adverse effect on the insured as well when they have to defend themselves from unscrupulous claims made against them.

“We feel tricked and victimized and outraged,” Jobe said in a court declaration.

Rose is scheduled to be sentenced on November 16^th in King County Superior Court.