At State Bar panel, workers comp fraud litigator tells attorneys to document everything amNewYork

"Successful workers compensation fraud cases live and die on documentation particularly surveillance footage, said Thais Rodriguez, a partner at Goldberg Segalla on Thursday at a presentation on allegedly staged construction accidents at the New York State Bar Association's annual conference in Manhattan. Rodriguez referenced a case of hers where a construction worker alleged that he fell off scaffolding, in which surveillance footage of the site started to unravel the claim. The footage allegedly shows the worker casing the sidewalk and then laying down to call 911 himself. The incident is a display of a key tenet for workers compensation defense lawyers: act swiftly to gather as much documentation as possible."

"You really want to move fast to secure any surveillance footage, Rodriguez said. Whether it's onsite or even any nearby businesses. As many of you may know, cameras overwrite after 30 to 45 days and you can lose any evidence. Rodriguez's presentation was part of a daylong CLE section on torts, insurance and compensation law for trial lawyers that included a wide range of topics from New York's no-fault auto insurance system to an analysis of how accurate Hollywood's depiction of trial law is to real-life lawyering."

Successful workers compensation fraud defenses rely on thorough documentary evidence, with surveillance footage often revealing staged behavior that contradicts claimant accounts. Rapid preservation of onsite and nearby camera footage is critical because many cameras overwrite after 30 to 45 days. The workers' compensation system is form-driven, and initial employee filings provide accident details but often omit corroborating records. Pre-shift logs, daily reports and other workplace documentation can expose inconsistencies in injury claims. Employers and defense counsel should act quickly to secure all available evidence and review operational records to identify and challenge potentially fraudulent construction accident claims.

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