A Florida woman whose insurance claim was denied called the company and said, ““Delay, deny, depose. You people are next.”
The company called the FBI, who referred the case to local police, who went to her home and arrested her. She’s charged with threatening a mass shooting.
Will criminal charges stick in court? The phrase “delay, deny, depose” is a complaint, not a threat. The phrase “you people are next” could be interpreted as a threat, but not necessarily, because it doesn’t explicitly threaten harm. Nor does it state she will do something.
Sure, I think it was appropriate to investigate. The 42-year-old woman told cops she doesn’t own a gun. They have no evidence she was planning anything. By all appearances, she was just blowing off steam (see story here). The lack of an explicit threat could make it a tough case for prosecutors. (For an example of an explicit threat, see story here.) They’ll have to convince a jury that angry words alone are a crime.
When the entire public applauds an insurance CEO’s murder, maybe the industry has a problem. Their customer service representatives undoubtedly are used to dealing with frustrated policyholders, and presumably they’re trained for that, and their pay reflects that aspect of the job. It takes an awfully thin-skinned corporation to call the cops on an angry customer they’ve screwed over.
If I’m her defense attorney, I’ll demand a jury trial, and expect an acquittal figuring all 12 jurors probably feel the same way about their insurance companies. Like I said, the industry has a problem.