Three Ossining men staged a traffic accident to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical payments, an insurance company claims, under New York’s no-fault insurance coverage.
Erie Insurance Co. alleges that Miguel Palacios, Francisco Monserrate, and Manuel Plasencia were not seriously injured in an crash on the Long Island Expressway, in a complaint filed on April 23 in Westchester Supreme Court. Yet, 46 healthcare providers have submitted bills.
Despite not requiring “emergency transport to the hospital or any extended hospital stay,” the complaint states, “Erie began to receive excessive amounts of treatment bills from numerous medical providers.”
As of June 2025, Erie Insurance had received more than $300,000 in medical bills from healthcare providers from Long Island to New Jersey. Most are from Brooklyn and three are local: Active Life Chiropractic PC, Carmel; Mid Hudson ER, Poughkeepsie; and Westchester Radiology and Imaging, Ardsley.
Erie did not accuse the healthcare providers of wrongdoing but names them as defendants for the purpose of recovering no-fault benefits.
The incident happened in April 2024. Romero was driving a 2004 Honda Accord, insured by Erie and allegedly passed a tractor-trailer, cut in front of it, and slammed on the brakes.
The truck driver reported that two people were in the Honda and that before police arrived another car pulled up and two more people got in the car. The police report identified three occupants of the Honda: Palacios, Monserrate, and Plasencia.
Three weeks later, lawyers representing the men invoked New York no-fault insurance. The system helps pay for medical bills, lost earnings and other costs, regardless of who is at fault; and it is meant to quickly help injured people and to prevent frivolous lawsuits.
Erie demanded that the three men and the truck driver testify under oath. It concluded that the occupants of the Honda were inconsistent and untruthful. For instance, the men could not support stories that they worked together and were on the way to a job site when the incident happened.
Erie denied no-fault coverage on the grounds that the crash was staged and the terms of the insurance policy were violated.
Now Erie is asking the court to declare that the accident was staged, the defendants gave false information to police, the insurer is not required to pay no-fault benefits and it may recover any no-fault benefits that have been paid.
