Lajara Settled Investigation Docs
| Tracking # |
C213609 |
| Submitted | Jan. 15, 2024 |
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Communications
From: Andrew Free
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Records created, received, or reviewed by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance - Bureau of Fraud Deterrence Enforcement Activity, pertaining to Kenneth J. Viafora, K-Med Services, Inc., and/or Onsite Medical Services.
An adequate search for these records will begin with the Stipulation and Settlement B&I entered into with Viafora in January 2016, available here: https://www.nj.gov/dobi/division_insurance/bfd/dol/2016/01/1022461.pdf.
Other records may be available in the associated case files for New Jersey’s 2012 intervention in the Allstate v. Lajara case: https://www.nj.gov/dobi/pressreleases/pr160727.html.
There may also be records produced through New Jersey fraud investigators concurrent investigation into the Allstate v. Clifton Neurology case: Case Number: UNN L-001099-15, in Union County.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 7 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Andrew Free
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New Jersey Open Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 15, 2024. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New Jersey Open Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 15, 2024. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Banking and Insurance
Good Morning Andrew,
The Department is receipt of your request and is diligently working on providing a response. We will respond to your request as soon as we can.
We thank you for your patience.
With Kind Regards,
Gatien Laurol – OPRA Custodian (Pronounced Ga-Shawn)
NJ Department of Banking and Insurance
20 West State Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
Phone Number: (609)-940-7706
Cell Phone Number: (609)-960-7722
From: Andrew Free
Thank you so much!
Andrew Free
From: Department of Banking and Insurance
02 15 2024
Dear Andrew Free,
Please allow this email to confirm that the Department of Banking and Insurance has received your OPRA request.
This request has been assigned OPRA request number C213609. At this time, an extension is needed until Thursday, March 7, 2024 to respond to this request.
We thank you for your patience.
With Kind Regards,
Gatien Laurol – OPRA Custodian (Pronounced Ga-Shawn)
NJ Department of Banking and Insurance
20 West State Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
Phone Number: (609)-940-7706
Cell Phone Number: (609)-960-7722
From: Department of Banking and Insurance
02 15 2024
Dear Andrew Free,
The Department of Banking and Insurance is in receipt of OPRA request number C213609. To respond to your request, the Department needs some clarification from you.
Your request does not identify specific records as required by OPRA; rather, it seeks very broad categories of information. OPRA only requires a custodian of records to respond to a request for specific records, not for information. Pursuant to case law, a request that requires a custodian to conduct research and correlate data from various records is not a valid OPRA request. See, e.g. MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534 (App. Div. 2005).
To respond to your request, the Department needs some clarification from you. Are you looking for a specific case pertaining to Kenneth J. Viafora or any settlement documents pertaining to the same name? This way we can respond to your request accordingly.
By no later than close of business on Thursday, February 22, 2023, please provide the Department with your response to our inquiry.
With Kind Regards,
Gatien Laurol - OPRA Custodian (Pronounced Ga-Shawn)
NJ Department of Banking and Insurance
20 West State Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
Phone Number: (609)-940-7706
Cell Phone Number: (609)-960-7722
From: Andrew Free
Yes.
He was a defendant in the civil prosecution the State of New Jersey brought in connection with Allstate v Lajara (filed around 2011). He settled with the State in January 2016 and paid a $30k fine.
And the State served him a criminal subpoena, via his attorney, in 2016, in connection with the Clifton Neurology Associates investigation.
Please let me know what else you need?
Thank you,
Andrew Free
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New Jersey Open Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 15, 2024. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on March 7, 2024. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date. You had assigned it reference number #C213609.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Banking and Insurance
03 07 2024
Dear Andrew Free,
The Department of Banking and Insurance is in receipt of your OPRA request C213609. An extension is needed until Thursday, March 21, 2024, to respond to this request.
Thank you for your continued patience.
With Kind Regards,
Gatien Laurol - OPRA Custodian (Pronounced Ga-Shawn)
NJ Department of Banking and Insurance
20 West State Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
Phone Number: (609)-940-7706
Cell Phone Number: (609)-960-7722
From: Andrew Free
Okay. Thanks for letting me know.
From: Department of Banking and Insurance
03 11 2024
Dear Mr. Free:
We are in receipt of your Open Public Records Act ("OPRA") request (C213609), dated January 15, 2024.
Your request is overbroad and improper. Under OPRA, a "requestor must identify the records sought with specificity. The request may not be a broad, generic description of documents that requires the custodian to search the agency's files and 'analyze, compile, and collate' the requested information." Bart v. Passaic Cnty. Pub. Housing Agency, 406 N.J. Super. 445, 451 (App. Div. 2009) (citations omitted); see also Bent v. Twp. of Stafford Police Dep't, 381 N.J. Super. 30 (App. Div. 2005). OPRA also does not "authorize a party to make a blanket request for every document a public agency has on file," and "a proper request under OPRA must identify with reasonable clarity those documents that are desired, and a party cannot satisfy this requirement by simply requesting all of the agency's documents." Id. at 37. More specifically, OPRA was not created to allow "open-ended searches of an agency's files" and "is not intended as a research tool litigants may use to force government officials to identify and siphon useful information[,]"" MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Div. of Alcohol Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534, 546-49 (App. Div. 2005). Therefore, the portions of your request for "[r]ecords created, received, or reviewed by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance - Bureau of Fraud Deterrence Enforcement Activity, pertaining to Kenneth J. Viafora, K-Med Services, Inc., and/or Onsite Medical Services" fail to identify specific or identifiable records, it is improper.
Likewise, the portions of your request seeking "other records . . . in the Allstate v. Lajara case," as well as "records produced through . . . the Allstate v. Clifton Neurology case," are also improper for the same reasons.
Additionally, to the extent the documents you seek are parts of investigative files in the Bureau of Fraud Deterrence, please be advised that records relating to the subject of an investigation under the Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, L. 1983, c. 320 (N.J.S.A. 17:33A-1 to -30) are not subject to disclosure pursuant to N.J.S.A. 17:33A-11 and N.J.A.C. 11:16-6.11. The Department can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any such investigation where no public filing has been made. North Jersey Media Group, Inc. v. Bergen Cty. Prosecutor's Office, 447 N.J. Super. 182 (App. Div. 2016).
Furthermore, and notwithstanding the foregoing, to the extent the portions of your request may be read on its face to seek unfiled discovery, please be advised that unfiled records related to litigation are exempt from release under OPRA. See Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP v. Dep't of Law & Public Safety, Div. of Law, 421 N.J. Super. 489, 497-98 (App. Div. 2011) (finding that pre-trial transcripts of expert depositions, which were not filed with the court, were exempt under OPRA because "[j]udicial case law has long established or recognized, without limitation, the confidentiality of unfiled discovery.").
For these reasons, your request is denied. Notwithstanding our denial, we are providing you with a copy of the Intervenor Complaint filed by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. If there are specific court filings you seek, you may file a new request for those.
Your request to the Department is closed.
With Kind Regards,
Gatien Laurol - OPRA Custodian (Pronounced Ga-Shawn)
NJ Department of Banking and Insurance
20 West State Street
Trenton, NJ 08608
Phone Number: (609)-940-7706
Cell Phone Number: (609)-960-7722
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