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Internet Romance Scams: Love Is Blind

Samuel O'Connell — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:05:49 +0000

Fraudsters have existed since time immemorial. One of the more recent time-tested forms of this deceit are romance scams. The scammer tricks the victim into surrendering their affection, and, over prolonged periods of time, uses that endearment to obtain money through false pretenses. These scams have been occurring for centuries, but the advent of the internet, and recently artificial intelligence, have made their stories more compelling. In a recent case, a Michigan man lost $3,000 to someone impersonating Jennifer Aniston.¹

Such events are not one-off occurrences, but part of an underground multi-billion dollar industry. Scam centers from countries such as India and Columbia hire employees, sometimes human trafficking victims, to carry out various aspects of the often prolonged scam. The industry obtained an estimated $1.16 billion within nine months in 2025 alone. Oftentimes these companies will lure victims through text or phone calls to build rapport. Once the relationship is established, they create a persona through actors or generative AI and trick victims so that they fall in love.

The scammer will begin to collect money once the connection is established. Up until recently this was done by having the victim send numerous gift cards, but companies have recently enacted increased protection to combat this method. Fraudsters compensate by having the victim learn how to transfer cryptocurrency, or they may resort to plain-old credit card theft.

How to Protect Yourself from Internet Romance Scams

Some important information to protect yourself. Scammers will eye potential victims of all ages, young or old, so long as there is money to steal. Be wary of unknown online presences which personally contact you and ask for your financial aid. Be wary if the individual says they cannot meet in person. Never send money to people you only communicate to through the internet or messaging services. Lastly, be careful of what information about yourself you post online because scammers use these intimate details to find their targets.

Footnote

¹ Mark Twain, Chapters From my Autobiography – IX, 184 The North American Review 1, 12 (January, 1907).

About the Author

Neil T. O’Donnell is an attorney at O’Donnell Law Offices with decades of experience representing individuals and families throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania. Throughout his career, Neil has built a reputation for strong advocacy and a commitment to helping people navigate complex legal issues.

At O’Donnell Law Offices, he focuses on protecting the rights of individuals who have been harmed by the negligence or misconduct of others. Neil and the team at the firm are dedicated to providing thoughtful legal guidance and pursuing the best possible outcomes for their clients.

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How is AI Impacting the Insurance Industry?

Samuel O'Connell — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:40:06 +0000

Authors: Attorney Neil O'Donnell and Attorney Connor Graham

How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming the Health Insurance Industry

The health insurance industry has been integrating AI into their processing systems. Debate has begun on how to regulate it. While the ultimate effects on society remain nebulous, AI has proven to be transformative in certain fields. One of the most affected areas is data processing. The AI is capable of analyzing through thousands of pages of documents in a fraction of the time a human would take. Its outputs can flag important information missing from documents, and flag the important documents or information amidst hundreds of thousands of words. Health insurance companies have begun to move with gusto to take advantage of these perceived benefits.

Use of AI in Utilization Review, Prior Authorization, and Claims Processing

Many health insurers use AI in utilization review to determine whether coverage is applicable in a given case. Utilization review involves: Prior authorization (Physician preapproval of health procedures), concurrent review (assessing whether current health procedures are warranted), and decisions about claims for prior services rendered.¹ Other AI use cases involve fraud detection and risk adjustment.² In total, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners believes that 84% of health insurers use AI, or some form of machine learning, across their product lines.³

Public Trust Concerns Surrounding Artificial Intelligence in Health Care

The move to AI is not without issues, and chief among them is public trust. A recent survey found that roughly two-thirds of adults reported low trust in the health care system to responsibly utilize AI.⁴ For general trust in the health care system, that survey sample had a mean trust of 5.38 out of 12.⁵ A recent Fox poll finding 63% of votes are “very” or “extremely” concerned about AI, including majorities across the political spectrum.⁶

Legislative and Regulatory Scrutiny of AI in Health Insurance

Lawmakers in the House Ways and Means Committee summoned various health insurer executives to address affordability back in January. In that meeting, insurer executives were adamant that AI is not used in the claim denial process. Still, they were forthcoming when it came to AI use in the prior authorization process, which one executive described as having “friction.” These statements come as multiple states enact legislation restricting use of AI in health insurance, including California and Texas.⁷

Rhode Island, for example, is attempting to pass a bill restricting AI use in coverage denials. That bill failed to pass last year, with one Democratic State senator stating that insurers formed “tremendous opposition” to regulation targeting prior authorization and identifying intermediaries such as private insurers or pharmacy benefit managers. A renewed push for that bill is expected this year.

Federal Executive Orders and the Future of State AI Regulation

Under this umbrella of uncertainty, the Trump administration is issuing executive orders that restrict federal funding for any state that enacts “excessive” state regulation of AI. The constitutionality of that order notwithstanding, it shows a desire in higher echelons of government to curtail state regulation of the burgeoning AI sector.

Footnotes

¹Michelle M. Mello, et al., The AI Arms Race In Health Insurance Utilization Review: Promises of Efficiency and Risks of Supercharged Flaws, 45 Health Affairs 1, 6-13 (2026).

²National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Health insurance artificial intelligence/machine learning survey results, Kansas City (MO): NAIC; c 2025 [accessed Feb. 27, 2026]. Available from: https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/NAIC%20AI%20Health%20Survey%20Report%20.pdf .

³Id.

⁴Paige Nong, PhD; Jodyn Platt, PhD, Patients’ Trust in Health Care Systems to Use Artificial Intelligence, 8 JAMA Network Open 2, e2460628 (2025).

⁵Id.

⁶Darius Tahir and Lauren Sausser, Should AI weigh in on your insurance?, The New York Times, (Feb. 24, 2026), at 2.

⁷Id.

About O'Donnell Law Offices

O'Donnell Law Offices has served individuals and families throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania for over 35 years. With offices in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, the firm focuses on personal injury, workers’ compensation, and disability claims, advocating for clients facing serious injuries, workplace accidents, and complex insurance disputes. Led by experienced trial attorneys, the firm is committed to protecting the rights of injured Pennsylvanians and helping clients secure the compensation and benefits they deserve.

If you have questions about your rights or need legal guidance, contact O'Donnell Law Offices today to schedule a consultation. Call 570-821-5717 or visit our contact page to get started.

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Big Tax Cuts For Insurance Comapnies

Samuel O'Connell — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 21:21:47 +0000

BIG TAX CUTS FOR INSURANCE COMPANIES

Author: Neil T. O’Donnell , Founder and Managing Attorney, O’Donnell Law Offices .

As reported recently in The New York Times , the Trump Administration handed out hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts to some of the country’s most profitable insurance companies, crypto companies, and other multi-national corporations.

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) , through a series of new notices and proposed regulations, are giving giant tax breaks to insurance companies.

The Administration is rapidly gutting a 2022 law which ensured that the country’s most profitable insurance companies would pay at least some Federal Income Tax. The “Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax” was passed to stop giant corporations, including insurance companies, Microsoft, Amazon, and others, from being able to report big profits to shareholders yet low tax liabilities to the Federal Government.

The 2022 law projected to raise $220 billion over a decade. But the Treasury Department and IRS have issued notices beginning this summer which means the tax could bring in only a fraction of that amount.

These breaks to insurance companies come in addition to the roughly $4 trillion package of cuts enacted by the Administration in July, 2025.

These tax cuts to insurance companies and other large corporations will add trillions of dollars to the federal deficit, and bring steep cuts to healthcare for the elderly and cuts to food stamps for the poorest Americans. By doing it through the Treasury Department, Daniel Hemel , a law professor at New York University, said that:

The Administration “can just give away the goodies to one group, without having to take back anything from another.”

These new regulations provide flexibility for insurance companies in using so-called “tax losses.” The new rules permit some insurers to use those losses to reduce their bills under the minimum tax – even for prior years.

“They’re effectively repealing the statute,” said Monte Jackel , a tax lawyer and former IRS official.

At O’Donnell Law Offices, we stand up to greedy insurance companies every single day. And when you are injured, we will make those insurers pay fair compensation.

ABOUT NEIL T. O'DONNELL

Neil O’Donnell is the founder of O’Donnell Law Offices. As an experienced trial lawyer, he has been fighting for his clients since 1987, after graduating with honors from King’s College and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. An NEPA native, Neil was born and raised in Wilkes-Barre.

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Tesla’s Self-Driving Technology Under Probe After 58 Incidents

Samuel O'Connell — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 23:52:42 +0000

Written By Attorney Neil T. O’Donnell

The National Highway Safety Administration, in a filing dated Tuesday, October 7, 2025, reported 58 incidents of Tesla autonomous vehicles violating traffic safety laws while in full self-driving mode. Many of the Tesla drivers stated that car gave no warning about unexpected behaviors.

In August, 2025, a Miami jury found Tesla partly responsible for a deadly 2019 crash in Florida while in “auto pilot driver assist” mode (which is different than full self-driving). The jury verdict was in the amount of $240 million.

This new investigation covers 2.8 million vehicles

Essentially all Teslas equipped with Full Self-Driving technology (“FSD”). This investigation follows other probes into the FSD features on Teslas which has been blamed for several injuries and deaths. Tesla has repeatedly stated that the system cannot drive itself and human drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.

Tesla is also under investigation by the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency (NHTSA) for its “summon technology” that allows drivers to tell their cars to drive to their locations to pick them up – a feature that has reportedly led to parking lot collisions.

There are particular problems in low visibility conditions – including one case in which a pedestrian was killed.

Tesla is under pressure to demonstrate it has corrected these defects. In the meantime, Tesla promises to put hundreds of thousands of self-driving Tesla cars and Tesla robo-taxis on roads by the end of 2026.

As technology continues to evolve, so do the legal questions surrounding responsibility, safety, and accountability. If you or someone you love has been injured in a crash involving a self-driving or autonomous vehicle, it’s important to speak with an experienced attorney who understands both the law and the technology behind these cases. The team at O’Donnell Law Offices has decades of experience representing accident victims throughout Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Northeastern Pennsylvania. We fight to hold negligent drivers and manufacturers accountable and to secure the justice and compensation our clients deserve. Contact O’Donnell Law Offices today for a free consultation.

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What Happens to Workers’ Compensation Specific Loss Benefits After Death in Pennsylvania?

Michael O'Donnell — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 23:33:44 +0000

Written by Attorney Michael O’Donnell

Generally speaking, the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act provides for three (3) forms of benefits to injured workers:

Wage loss benefits when an injury interrupts a worker’s ability to earn a wage;
Medical benefits covering 100% of the reasonable medical expenses necessary to treat a work injury; and
Specific loss benefits, which are cash benefits to the injured worker when they suffer the loss of use of a body part (often by way of dysfunction or amputation) or scars to certain areas of their body caused by an on-the-job injury.

Understanding How Specific Loss Benefits Work

The law is set up in such a way that an injured worker cannot collect both total disability wage loss payments and payments for a specific loss simultaneously. The law provides that specific loss benefits are paid after an injured worker stops receiving weekly total disability wage loss payments.

Because of these legally imposed limitations, it is common for an injured worker who has suffered an amputation, permanent scar, or loss of use of a body part to pursue an award of specific loss benefits from a Workers’ Compensation Judge and not begin receiving those payments until they stop receiving their weekly total disability payments.

Workplace injuries involving both total disability and specific loss are frequently some of the most serious and severe injuries we see in this area of the law. I have personally observed situations where these injuries are so devastating that they have, tragically, led to loss of life. When that occurs, the injured worker’s surviving dependents are generally eligible to receive fatal claim benefits and coverage for a set amount of funeral expenses.

What Happens to Specific Loss Benefits After Death?

But what happens when an injured worker suffers a total disability, a specific loss due to amputation, loss of use, or disfigurement, and then passes away before their specific loss benefits are finally decided by the Court and before those payments are made? Does the insurance company just get to keep the specific loss money? Keep in mind, the law provides that specific loss payments do not become payable under the law until after the injured worker’s total disability wage loss checks stop. Like most issues in the law, the answer to the earlier question is: it depends.

Case Example: Recovering Benefits for a Deceased Worker

I had represented a gentleman who suffered a severe work-related injury to his leg. He appropriately received total disability benefits for that injury. Despite best efforts from his medical team, the injury eventually required amputation of his leg below the knee.

With that, he became eligible for specific loss benefits, which were awarded by a Judge. Because my client was receiving total disability payments, the law provided that his specific loss payments would not yet begin. Not long thereafter, my client succumbed to a non-work-related medical ailment and he passed away. He was still receiving total disability wage loss benefits for his work injury when he passed. He never received a penny of the specific loss benefits awarded by the Court.

This brings us back to the question raised earlier: Does the insurance company just keep the specific loss money that had been awarded by the Court? Not this time. After my client’s passing, we took the issue back to the Court with his surviving spouse substituted in his place as the “Claimant.” The law was on our side, but not necessarily for the reasons most would believe.

Section 306(g): Payment of Specific Loss Benefits to Survivors

Section 306(g) of the Workers’ Compensation Act provides that specific loss benefits are payable to the surviving spouse or dependents of the injured worker if they have not yet been paid to the injured worker prior to his death and the injured worker’s death was due to causes unrelated to his work injury. The key factors in our case were that the specific loss benefits had actually been awarded by a judge prior to my client’s passing and his death was due to a medical ailment unrelated to his work injury. Securing the award of specific loss benefits during the injured worker’s lifetime was an important fact to our success in recovering payment of the benefits to his surviving spouse. Additionally, under then-existing precedent, proving that his passing was due to medical ailments unrelated to his work injury provided for a favorable result under Section 306(g).

But what is the result if the injured worker dies while their specific loss benefits claim is still unresolved by the Court, their passing is due to the work injury itself, and the injured worker leaves behind no dependents?

**The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently tackled this issue in Steets v. Celebration Fireworks (WCAB), 335 A.3d 1076 (Pa. 2025).**

The key factors for purposes of this analysis are that (1) the injured worker’s passing was due to the injuries she suffered as a result of the workplace incident; (2) the injured worker did not leave behind dependents as defined in the law; and (3) the question of whether the injured worker was owed specific loss benefits was being actively contested and litigated in the Courts at the time she died.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in overruling earlier precedent dating back to 2004, held that Section 306(g) does not limit recovery of post-death specific loss benefits to only those circumstances where the injured worker’s death is due to non–work-injury-related causes. The High Court further examined Section 410 of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act and determined that Section 410 allows for the payment of specific loss benefits to an injured worker’s Estate under the circumstances presented in Steets because the injured worker died as a result of her work injuries, did not leave behind dependents, and maintained an active claim for specific loss benefits that had not yet reached a final adjudication at the time of her death. The employer or insurance carrier’s continued contest of the injured worker’s entitlement to specific loss benefits at the time of her death was a key factor in allowing for the application of Section 410 and thus the Estate’s ability to recover the specific loss benefits at issue.

About Attorney Michael A. O’Donnell

Attorney Michael A. O’Donnell is a certified specialist in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation law who represents injured workers and their families across the Commonwealth. A partner at O’Donnell Law Offices, he is known for his strong advocacy, community involvement, and leadership in professional organizations, including the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association’s Middle District Chapter. Learn more about Attorney Michael O’Donnell.

O’Donnell Law Offices is a leading personal injury and workers’ compensation firm serving Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and communities across Northeastern Pennsylvania. Our experienced team of trial attorneys represents clients in complex cases involving workers’ compensation, specific loss benefits, personal injury, motor vehicle and trucking accidents, premises liability, and Social Security Disability. With decades of proven results and board-certified expertise in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation law, we fight to protect the rights of injured workers and their families—ensuring they receive the full benefits and justice they deserve.

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Government Not Immune in PA School Abuse Case

Gerard Gaughan — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 16:58:40 +0000

Commonwealth Court Decision Clarifies Scope of Sexual Abuse Exception

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania issued a decision of significant statewide importance on June 9, 2025, clarifying the reach of the “sexual abuse exception” to governmental immunity.

Under normal circumstances, state and local government agencies are immune from lawsuits due to the doctrine of governmental immunity. However, Pennsylvania law allows for exceptions—one of which was added in 2019. That year, the legislature created a new waiver of immunity for sexual abuse cases, provided the abuse was “caused by actions or omissions of the local agency which constitute negligence.”

Case Summary: L.F.V. v. South Philadelphia High School

In the case of L.F.V. v. South Philadelphia High School, the plaintiff alleged she was sexually abused by fellow students on school property. According to the lawsuit, the high school failed to provide proper supervision, enabling the abuse to occur.

The school district argued that immunity still applied, claiming the exception only covers abuse committed directly by government employees. However, the plaintiff contended that the exception also applies when government inaction or negligence enabled the abuse—regardless of the perpetrator.

Legislative Intent Matters: Court Agrees with the Plaintiff

The Commonwealth Court sided with the plaintiff. In its ruling, the Court emphasized that the intent of the legislature—especially as voiced by State Representative Mark Rozzi, the bill’s primary sponsor—was to ensure public institutions could be held accountable, just like private ones.

The Court found that Rep. Rozzi’s speeches and advocacy confirmed the law was meant to hold municipalities liable for failing to prevent sexual abuse. As he stated during legislative debate, the goal was to create “absolute parity in the handling of sexual abuse claims between public and private institutions.”

O’Donnell Law Offices Played a Key Role

O’Donnell Law Offices had the distinct honor of representing Rep. Mark Rozzi in this landmark appeal, helping to ensure that the legislative purpose behind the “sexual abuse exception” was correctly recognized and upheld by the Court.

If You or a Loved One Was Sexually Abused at School

Whether the abuse was committed by a teacher, fellow student, or other individual, Pennsylvania law now provides a path to justice—even against public institutions. If you or a loved one has been harmed in a school setting, contact O’Donnell Law Offices today. We have experience in holding schools accountable and will fight for the justice and compensation you deserve. Call us today for a free, confidential consultation.

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