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Norman J. Michaels of South Salem filed the Notice of Intention to File Claim with the state Court of Claims in Albany on Friday. The Jan. 6 notice says Michaels' felony indictment was dismissed and his false criminal convictions were reversed by the state's Appellate Division last fall.
The Appellate Division, in its Oct. 22, 2015, decision, found the criminal charges -- initiated by an investigator for MVP Health Care and pressed by the state Department of Financial Service (DFS) -- "were not supported by legally sufficient evidence."
Michaels is alleging malice by state DFS and other New York state employees in his notice, which claims negligence and deliberate indifference by state DFS and other public employees.
The state Department of Financial Services, declined to comment. MVP Health Care also declined to comment.
Michaels' notice does not seek a specific dollar amount for damages, while claiming false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.
"This is basically a placeholder," Michaels' Albany attorney, Terence L. Kindlon, told Daily Voice on Wednesday.
Kindlon said he intends to file a separate federal civil rights lawsuit against individuals named in the state notice (copy attached below) as well as against MVP Health Care and its investigator.
"It was just brutal what they did to him," Kindlon said. "This whole case was insane."
In 2008, MVP Health Care renewed an agreement with the Otsego County Chamber of Commerce. Separately, the upstate Chamber created an associate membership for non-residents of Otsego County who wanted to take advantage of Chamber benefits, including health insurance. Norman J. Michaels & Associates, then based in White Plains, became sole broker for MVP in July 2008.
Norman J. Michaels processed monthly medical insurance applications for MVP and other insurance carriers from April 2009 until October 2010. In the fall of 2010, an MVP investigator noticed a large number of claims from people living outside Otsego County. Chamber officials showed the investigator membership guidelines that said it was allowed, according to the notice.
MVP Health Care service areas included Westchester and Rockland counties.
Nonetheless, the MVP investigator reportedly signed a sworn affidavit in 2010 claiming Michaels should not have enrolled downstate, out-of-county residents for health benefits.
In March 2013, DFS investigator Philip D'Angelo signed a felony complaint against Michaels for second-degree grand larceny, the notice says.
D'Angelo "unlawfully handcuffed" Michaels at his White Plains office and took him for processing at the New York State Police barracks in Oneonta, the notice states.
"With actual malice and without probable cause," the notice says, a criminal case was commenced against Michaels.
Michaels' claims he was falsely charged with second- and third-degree grand larceny, first-degree scheme to defraud and second-degree insurance fraud. The insurance fraud charge, which was not a state crime at the time, was dismissed by an Otsego County Court judge before trial.
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