MetLife employee wrongly accused man of making false claims, suit says

A Cook County man is suing an insurance company and one of its employees who he claims maliciously accused him of making false claims.

Michael Filimoniuk filed a lawsuit July 28 in the Cook County Circuit Court against Michael Niles and MetLife Insurance Inc.

According to the complaint, Filimoniuk was prosecuted in grand jury proceedings on Oct. 23, 2012, when the only witness called was Niles, an employee of MetLife Insurance who said Filimoniuk made false claims about business losses to his company.

Filimoniuk asserts he was indicted for insurance fraud on Dec. 7, 2012, even though he never actually filed a formal claim to MetLife in his conversations with Niles. He claims Niles falsely testified that a certain business Filimoniuk mentioned did not exist, spurring the Jan. 17 dismissal of the indictment.

The defendants are accused of malicious prosecution and infliction of emotional distress, both negligent and intentional.

Filimoniuk is seeking more than $50,000 in damages and is being represented by Chicago attorney Stephen L. Richards.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L007885.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.