Mulholland Investigation is always busy with surveillance jobs, one of our core services. We understand that reading about other's stories can sometimes help new clients, so we are excited to share two surveillance summaries conducted on claimants who alleged severe life restrictions:
Case #1
Neck injury: severe pain/restricted mobility subject confined to neck brace.
Excerpt from surveillance report: Approximately 9 minutes of video was obtained of the claimant walking without any visible medical braces or devices, entering, exiting, and operating a vehicle, climbing into and out of the bed of a pickup truck, bending over at the waist for long periods, lifting a tool box and inserting it into the cab of the truck through the rear sliding window, lifting plastic buckets while in a bent over position.
Case #2
Back, neck, legs/left knee injuries/Inability to move unassisted
Excerpt from surveillance report: Approximately 10 minutes of Claimant activity was obtained. The claimant was documented walking, standing, driving, bending at the waist, turning her head and twisting her torso. During the aforementioned activities the claimant moved in a normal fluid manner and wore no visible braces, supports or orthopedic devices.
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Insurance companies, TPA’s and other claims management agencies are more likely to challenge insurance claims as access to surveillance becomes more available. Due to the increase in questionable, exaggerated and often times fraudulent claims, these companies are ordering surveillance and social media searches to confirm or refute the validity of the claim.
Quality Surveillance reports today include covert video and pictures with time stamped activity throughout the day, detailed location information and people interactions. A common surveillance assignment is two days, one weekday and one weekend day to observe both routines. If a day of surveillance is not gaining actionable intelligence, a quality investigator will end the day early to come back and observe a third or fourth day to increase the likelihood of gaining quality surveillance for this assignment. The time and scope required to successfully support a claim case can vary but two full 8 hour days from quality investigation companies can range from $1,200 to $1,500, a price most find to be worth it when resulting savings can be 100x more.
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