privacy????

[hurtinginnc]

I am in North Carolina. We are currently in the workers comp. nightmare- The insurance co's. lawyer hired a investigative firm and they called family and neighbors claiming to be "checking for job references" for a state job- (? gov't employee?????) and asked a bunch of questions about work done and abilities. Is this legal???? Seems like invasion of privacy and telephone fraud. Is it ??? Is there anything we can do about it??

 

[You Are Guilty]

Is this legal???? Seems like invasion of privacy and telephone fraud. Is it ??? Is there anything we can do about it??

In order: Yes, no, and stop faking injuries.

My bill is in the mail.

 

[ellencee]

Actually--in NC, I believe the law states an insurance investigator must correctly identify himself or herself and state the true purpose of the investigation. I know the information is available online at the NC government's site, in the General Statutes, the section on insurance law.

EC

 

[ellencee]

hurtinginnc
I found an article that puts into understandable English, the 'rules' of gathering information. Based on your description of events, the private investigator used 'pretext' to obtain information by presenting himself to be someone/something he is not. By doing this, the insurance company that hired him to gather the information may have committed an act of bad faith. As a result, you may have a bad faith claim against the insurance company.

I am not an attorney and in no way am I stating as fact that the investigator could not pose as an employer or that you do, in fact, have a claim of bad faith against the insurance company.

Here is the site: http://www.longwoods.com/legalfocus/04-01/feature.html

This is the article: Good vs. Evil: Gathering Information in a Good Faith Environment (Michael J. Malone)

I hope this information will be of assistance to you.
EC