Judge Joyce’s lawsuit against insurers thrown out by court [Erie Times-News, Pa.]

Jan. 28--A judge has dismissed the lawsuit filed by former state Superior Court Judge Michael T. Joyce against the insurance companies he was convicted of defrauding.

Senior Judge William F. Morgan weighed preliminary objections filed by the insurers, Erie Insurance Group and State Farm, and ruled not only that Joyce raised no valid legal claims against the companies, but also that no amount of reworking his complaint would allow the case to proceed.

"The court finds that it is clear and free from doubt that the plaintiff's complaint is devoid of merit and no amendment could cure its defects," Morgan wrote.

Morgan's ruling hinged on Joyce's contention that his conviction on two counts of mail fraud and six counts of money laundering was not relevant to his civil claims against the companies. It was not immediately clear whether Joyce, who is serving a 46-month sentence in federal prison, intends to appeal the ruling.

His lawyer, Alexander H. Lindsay Jr., of Butler, was not immediately available for comment.

Spokesmen for State Farm and Erie Insurance could not immediately be reached for comment.

The civil case, dismissed in Erie County Court on Thursday, is the latest development in a long-running legal drama that began more than 10 years ago when Joyce claimed he was injured in a low-speed, rear-end collision on Aug. 10, 2001, in Millcreek Township.

Erie Insurance paid Joyce $390,000; State Farm paid $50,000. Following an investigation of a tip from Joyce's former fiancee, the federal government indicted Joyce on charges the insurance claims were fraudulent.

A federal jury in 2008 found Joyce lied, exaggerated or omitted key information when he filed the claims related to the crash. Key to the jurors' verdict was the government's evidence that Joyce golfed, scuba-dived and learned to fly a private plane at the same time he told insurers he could not steadily hold a cup of coffee.

Joyce was sentenced to 46 months in prison and stripped of his $81,803 annual judicial pension. He has forfeited to the federal government whatever he bought with the insurance proceeds, including his house on Zimmerly Road in Millcreek Township. He also must pay a total of $440,000 in restitution to the insurance companies.

In March, Joyce, while still imprisoned, filed a lawsuit in Allegheny County charging that Erie Insurance and State Farm were guilty of fraud, bad faith, breach of contract and unjust enrichment. The case was transferred to Erie County in October.

Joyce wanted a clean slate to lay out what he claims were the insurance companies' efforts to defraud him by first approving his insurance claims for injuries stemming from an auto accident and then portraying themselves as victims of his fraud when he was criminally charged.

Erie Insurance, he claimed, sought to ensnare him in a "nefarious scheme" to corrupt the Superior Court when it settled his insurance claim.

He said the insurance companies' handling of his claims and their lies amid his federal prosecution cost him his freedom, career and community standing.

Lawyers for the insurers, though, argued that a legal concept, "in pari delicto," Latin for "in equal fault," barred someone like Joyce from using the law to reward his own fraudulent conduct.

Morgan agreed.

LISA THOMPSON can be reached at 870-1802 or by e-mail.

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