Insurer Files Suit on Suspicious Flood of Flood Claims

We’ve heard of people who are accident prone, but one house in Indiana is apparently prone to flooding. The house at 6300 Arthur Street in Merrillville has allegedly racked up over $260,000 in damages in the past few years from numerous floods. However, not everyone believes these claims.

Insurance companies are allegedly starting to get suspicious and question these records. According to the Post-Tribune, it is reported that a second lawsuit has been filed against the homeowners by Member Select Insurance Company.

Member Select is suing Dorian and Trenice Brown on charges of insurance fraud and racketeering, claiming the husband and wife collaborated to commit the fraud.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court in Hammond, and it states that the Browns allegedly filed seven claims that total $46,900 with Member Select from July 2006 to October 2009. Each time they allegedly claimed that their sump pump had failed and flooded their basement, resulting in items –such as a flat-screen TV and a couch– sustaining damage.

The suit also notes that not all of the claims were made on the same policy.

Several policies were allegedly taken out by the Browns: one for 6300 Arthur Street, one for 6306 Arthur Street and one for 6308 Arthur St. Hmmm…but only one house sits at those addresses however, according to the lawsuit. That could be a problem.

The suit also alleges that the Browns lied about the damage to their homes, which is reiterated in a lawsuit filed last year by Allstate Insurance regarding the same address.

That lawsuit named Lyndon Brown as the policy holder and claimed he used damage to the house done by an actual flood to keep convincing insurance agents that the home had been continually made a victim of flooding. Court documents didn’t spell out the connection Lyndon Brown has to either Dorian or Trenice Brown.

In the suit filed by Allstate, they declared that Lyndon Brown collected about $115,000 in fraudulent insurance claims. It also mentions that he, too, used fake information when filling out multiple policies.

After Lyndon Brown failed to appear in court, Allstate filed for a motion for summary judgment in its case. On Friday however, it filed another motion asking that the case be dismissed. The motion does not state why.

Please note that these are merely allegations in a civil matter and no criminal charges have been reported to date.