Santa Ana Surgeon Acquitted of Fraud in Workers’ Comp

A Santa Ana orthopedic surgeon charged two years ago in a much-publicized crackdown on workers’ compensation insurance fraud was acquitted Tuesday on all 14 counts against him.

The not-guilty verdict, which was delivered by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury, came nearly two years after the defendant, Dr. Marappa V. Gopinath, 46, was arrested for allegedly filing bogus insurance claims.

At the time, state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi held a press conference and proclaimed Gopinath’s arrest and those of eight others as “a clear warning to con artists that we aim to put them out of business.”

Gopinath could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but his attorney, Marshall Schulman, said, “justice has not been served because he never should have been charged.”

Initially, prosecutors alleged that Gopinath had double-billed insurance companies and provided false information for a workers’ compensation patient.

By the time the trial started Feb. 4 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Gopinath was accused of 14 counts of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and fraudulent billing practices involving five patients.

“Absolutely untrue,” Schulman said. “It showed a complete lack of understanding of the workers’ compensation laws.”

While under indictment, Gopinath has continued to practice medicine in Santa Ana, Schulman said, but his practice has suffered.

“When you’re under indictment, it’s hard to get people to come in to see you,” Schulman said. “He was receiving referrals from other doctors. He’s a fine orthopedic surgeon. But no doctor or lawyer is going to refer” cases to a person awaiting prosecution, he said.

Gopinath’s arrest in April, 1992, came in the wake of a then-new state law providing for stepped-up investigations of suspected workers’ compensation fraud and stiffer penalties for those convicted.

Garamendi called a midday news conference in Los Angeles on April 22, 1992, to tout what was described as the start of a major attack on workers’ compensation insurance fraud and to announce the arrests. The status of the cases against the eight others arrested that day was not immediately available.