Defense Attacks Reiner for Indicting Lawyer

The lawyer for a personal injury attorney indicted last week on felony charges of conspiracy to commit auto insurance fraud charged Monday that Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner is pursuing reelection aims in bringing the case.

The indictment of Los Angeles attorney Myron J. Toplitzky “represents nothing short of imposing the concept of ‘strict liability’--heretofore reserved for manufacturers of defective products that result in injury to the consumer--on the personal injury attorney for crimes committed by the attorney’s clients,” said Toplitzky’s attorney, Joseph Shemaria.

Reiner spokeswoman Sandy Gibbons responded that Reiner decided to pursue insurance fraud “in a big way” about a year ago and that the district attorney’s office will “continue to prosecute those responsible long after any election.”