The Return Of The Fortune Cookie

How long must a disbarred attorney wait for reinstatement?

Sixteen years was the period of banishment for an attorney reinstated yesterday by the New York Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department.

The attorney had been disbarred in 1998 as a result of a criminal fraud scheme described by the New York Times

Since 1990, Mitchell Rachlin has collected more than $626,000 in payments from an insurance policy, claiming that neck and back injuries from a car accident prevented him from working at his law practice.

Undercover investigators, however, say that Mr. Rachlin has been hard at work at his Hempstead law firm on Long Island — with no sign of impairment. Videotapes from a hidden camera show him moving nimbly about the office, even cradling the phone with his supposedly injured neck.

Not only was he working at his office, investigators say, Mr. Rachlin was also helping clients concoct their own fraudulent insurance claims.

Today, Mr. Rachlin was among 20 people indicted in Nassau County on felony charges stemming from a two-year sting, called Operation Backbone, to uncover fraud in insurance cases involving automobile no-fault, disability and workers’ compensation. The others were 3 lawyers, 12 chiropractors, an orthopedist, a medical supplier, a legal assistant and a chiropractor’s receptionist.

From the disbarment order

The respondent admitted that on or about October 23, 1995, he knowingly submitted false lost wages documents to Cigna Insurance Company (hereinafter Cigna) in support of a no-fault lost wage claim and thereby obtained in excess of $3,000 from Cigna.   The respondent further admitted that between approximately March 1995 and August 1995, he engaged in a scheme constituting a systematic ongoing course of conduct whereby he intended to defraud Cigna Insurance Company and Zurich Insurance Company by referring “false, fraudulent statement[s]” to those companies regarding the disability claims of more than one person.   Those persons received in excess of $1,000.

The reinstatement order does not set forth the evidence adduced to demonstrate present fitness to practice but notes the favorable recommendation of the Committee on Character and Fitness.

The court had denied two previous petitions. (Mike Frisch)