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PRESS RELEASE 4/3/2010

CA Insurance Commissioner candidate Padilla Calls for Insurance Commissioner Poizner and Attorney General Brown to open criminal investigations of Agraquest/Marrone/Liberty Mutual and
to investigate Yolo and Sacramento County District Attorney's failure to prosecute Workers Comp fraud

Press Conference
April 27, 2010 12:00 Noon
at District Attorney Kitchen's office in Sacramento
906 G. St., Sacramento.CA

Dina Padilla, candidate for California Insurance Commissioner, calls today for the California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and California Attorney General to open criminal investigations of former Agraquest owner Pam Marrone for workers comp fraud and a RICO conspiracy to avoid liability for injuries to David Bell at the Agraquest biotech company in Davis, California.

Agraquest and it's insurance agent Liberty Mutual illegally manipulated California Workers Compensation laws to prevent their liability in the case of the contamination of biotech worker David Bell at the company. The Federal government through Medicare has paid over $330,000 dollars for David Bell for his medical care and other costs. This constitutes felony fraud against the public and Federal government.

This case and the bio tech industry has also become a national issue with the statement of OSHA Director David Michaels that there needs to be strict regulations in the biotech industry for workers and the protection of the public as a result of the retaliation and injuries of Pfizer biotech worker Becky McClain in Connecticut. She was retaliated against for her free speech and making complaints to OSHA about the unsafe working conditions in the Pfizer laboratories in Groton, CT. Workers also need to have the right to unionize to protect their voices.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03pfizer.html

The wanton malicious disregard for the health and safety of David Bell by Agraquest, and the failure of other bio tech companies in California to follow NIH guidelines when doing genetic engineering is not only a threat to the health and safety of all biotech workers but also the public at large. These guidelines must be made rules and the law of the land. The Becky McClain case has shown that the largest drug company in the world Pfizer does not do risk assessments and fails to report sicknesses on the job thereby threatening the rights of the work and potentially creating a public health hazard. Pfizer also operates laboratories in California.

Padilla, who is running for California Insurance Commissioner on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket, also calls on Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate the failure of Yolo County Lt. Dan Stroski and Sacramento Supervising Deputy District Attorney Dale Kitching to pursue workers comp felony charges against Pam Marrone and Liberty Mutual for their conspiracy to limit their liability in the David Bell case.

Lt. Dan Stroski has previously said his department did not have the resources to pursue the criminal violations, and Kitching has rejected numerous requests to prosecute the frauds. Candidate Padilla has previously met with Department of Insurance state investigators and been told by these officers that the Department of Insurance does not prosecute insurance companies for workers comp fraud. The Insurance companies via self-insured employers fund many millions of dollars to the California Fraud Assessment Commission and California District Attorney fraud investigators. This is a substantive conflict of interest, a direct violation of employees due process under the US Constitution 14th Amendment.

They do prosecute injured workers and small employers, but Padilla said these District Attorneys have so far refused to prosecute self-insured employers like Kaiser and Safeway Inc. as well as the insurance industry. This is part and parcel of the result of the deregulation of workers compensation industry by the governor and the Republicans and Democrats in the legislature. The industry now "games" the system to avoid any liabilities, and the injured workers and public end up paying the cost.

Padilla calls on Attorney General Jerry Brown to act to protect the people of California and injured workers in California for this flagrant misuse of the law and the complicity of District Attorneys to do their jobs properly. His department is required to do oversight of the activities of District Attorneys in California.

Padilla announced that there will be a press conference on April 27, 2010 at District Attorney Kitching's office in Sacramento to release information about his failure to prosecute Marrone and the systemic corruption within the insurance industry and cost shifting by this industry.
www.padilla4insurancecommissioner.com