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This week's episode had a unique cast of guest characters: a chiropractor, two law partners, the owner of a moving company, and several illegal aliens. Detectives Briscoe and Green investigate the relationship among these people after moving man Hector Santiago is found dead on a side street.

The ME states that death was due to an aneurysm that was caused by trauma to the chest. A co-worker from the company where Santiago worked, the Reed Moving Company, tells them that Santiago was unable to lift much on his last day of work due to a car accident. When discussing this with the ME, the detectives are told that the aneurysm was probably sustained in the auto accident. Investigation of the driver's record reveals two prior rear end collisions in the last 9 months. This makes Briscoe and Green suspicious when the driver of the rear car states that Santiago's car appeared to stop for no reason, and that there was a car to his left blocking him from changing lanes to avoid the accident.

Briscoe and Green soon find a disturbing pattern: 19 insurance claims, by different people, all reporting the same injuries diagnosed by a chiropractor named Dr. Raliegh, all listing Bill Reed as their employer, and all handled by law partners Alan Petrie and Richard Sanders.

Abbie seeks a second opinion regarding the injury reports and consults another doctor who, although initially reluctant to second guess another doctor, quite eagerly states that Dr. Raliegh's tests were unreliable and that none of the X rays or MRIs for the 19 claimants reveal any abnormalities.

This report is sufficient to get a plea bargain out of Reed, in which he states Raliegh gave him a $500 "finder's fee" per person for staging accidents involving 3 to 4 men. However, to no great surprise, Dr. Raliegh's attorneys refuse to consider a plea for their client. As a result, Jack moves to disqualify Petrie and Sanders from representing the doctor, due to the need to call them as witnesses. The judge grants this motion, after Jack gives blanket immunity to all clients that have staged auto accidents.

With a new lawyer, Raliegh quickly pleads to manslaughter and implicates his former attorneys as the masterminds behind the insurance scam. Petrie and Sanders are charged with Santiago's murder on a theory that the staged accident constituted depraved indifference to life under CPL 125.25(2). Raliegh states that the arrangement was for him to be paid $600 per referral plus 5% of the insurance settlement.

At trial, Petrie and Sanders are represented by the same attorney. This is not a wise move as one client may decide to place the blame on the other. For these reasons, a lawyer is usually not permitted to represent two defendants unless the clients both sign a waiver stating that they accept the risk of this potential conflict.

Jack's first witness is a representative from the insurance industry who testifies that Raliegh and the law office shared at least 58 cases, and that all of these fit the pattern of a staged accident. The next witness for the prosecution was Raliegh, who reiterated the statement he gave Jack in the plea. However, upon cross, he had to admit that he had no proof of being paid, since he always received cash and billed the insurance companies directly. He also acknowledged that it's not unusual for doctors to refer patients to PI attorneys.

Petrie then takes the stand in his own defense, denying that he or Sanders were involved in the insurance scam. While Jack conducts a reasonable cross examination on the coincidences of the clients all having the same employer, doctor, and law firm, Petrie does respond plausibly, explaining his 30 visits to Raliegh's office by pointing out it's not uncommon for an attorney to attend a client's exam in a PI case. However, Petrie's undoing comes when he portrays himself as "fighting for people society has forgotten."

Jack calls a widow as a rebuttal witness who testifies that her husband died in a staged accident and stated she was pressured into retaining Petrie when he implied that other law firms would refuse the case upon learning the accident was staged. Furthermore, Petrie took 50% of her award as his fee, rather than the more traditional 33%, and claimed expenses of $37,000, leaving the client with $13,000.

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The jury returns with a guilty verdict on the second degree murder charge. However, even though the evidence that there was an insurance scam was quite strong, the evidence to suggest that the attorneys were paying people to stage accidents was only circumstantial because Raliegh was paid in cash. Combined with the fact that Petrie and Sanders had at least plausible answers for the coincidences, it is questionable that guilt was proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

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