Hartford Overturns Denial of Disability Benefits on Appeal

Our client, a former clerk at a coal mine with severe lumbar back problems first, contacted our office and spoke with Attorney Stephen Jessup in 2015 after Hartford denied his claim for long term disability benefits following short term disability. Similar to the vast majority of people with employer provided disability insurance with Hartford, our client’s short term disability policy was ultimately payable by the employer and Hartford was only tasked with administering the policy and directing the employer to issue disability benefits. However, when the claim transitioned to long term disability the payment of benefits was the sole responsibility of Hartford.

Our client’s short term disability claim was approved and paid with little issue. Hartford had determined that the medical information provided in furtherance of the short term disability was sufficient to prove our client couldn’t work and was entitled to short term disability, but when it came to long term disability (and Hartford having to pay the benefit) the medical information miraculously no longer supported the inability to perform his “sedentary” occupation. At that time Attorney Jessup submitted and successfully won our client’s appeal. As anyone on claim with Hartford knows- being approved for benefits is by no means the end of the story.

Any Occupation Review

After 24 months of benefits were payable our client’s definition of disability transitioned from the inability to perform his pre-disability own occupation to the inability to perform one of more of the essential duties of any occupation that he was qualified for based on education, training and experience. Despite being denied by the Social Security Administration, which is a factor considered by Hartford during the “any occupation” review, Attorney Jessup was able to successfully transition our client beyond the 24 month own occupation period in 2017.

By 2017, our client’s lower back condition had worsened substantially to the point that he required surgical intervention. Unfortunately, our client was unable to have the surgery due to the fact that after years of chronic pain and the inability to move or exercise without severe pain our client had gained a significant amount of weight, which due to the risk of complication during surgery, precluded him from undergoing surgery. Attorney Jessup believed it was this fact that would ultimately set into motion the events that would lead to Hartford denying benefits again.

Denial of Benefits.

Over four years after initially securing benefits for our client and two years after transitioning him from the 24 month own occupation period into the any occupation period, Hartford again began to turn up the heat on our client. It was Attorney Jessup’s belief based upon the interactions with Hartford’s claim manager that she had it out for our client and was searching for any way to find a “reasonable” basis to deny the claim. Updated requests for medical information and a phone interview with Attorney Jessup and our client resulted in Hartford requesting our client undergo an Independent Medical Examination (IME).

Despite no improvement in our client’s medical condition and evidence actually supporting further deterioration, the IME doctor provided Hartford with what it paid for – a report and opinion that indicated our client would be able to perform full time sedentary work. The IME report was all the claim manager needed to deny the claim.

Appeal

Our client and Attorney Jessup had fought Hartford for years and were not about to give up now. Understanding that Hartford was looking down the road to litigation and was trying to establish that it had acted reasonable when it denied our client’s claim, Attorney Jessup knew that success in the appeal would be based on refuting the IME report. Attorney Jessup has questioned the opinions of countless IME doctors, but upon review of the IME report it would appear the blame laid solely on Hartford.

The IME doctor’s report initially supported our client’s disability and indicated he would be unable to perform the physical duties of a sedentary occupation on a full time basis. It was only after repeated pressure from Hartford to clarify his position did the IME doctor change his opinion to indicate our client had full time work capability.

Despite the opinions expressed by the IME doctor, there was little in the way of actual physical examination conducted that really got to the heart of our client’s restrictions and limitations. To best assess our client’s ability to sustain full time sedentary work as defined by Department of Labor criteria, Attorney Jessup had him undergo a functional capacity examination, which would entail extensive physical testing aimed at identifying physical restrictions and limitations. As expected, the testing indicated that our client would not be able to sustain full time work activities with reasonable continuity. Attorney Jessup submitted our client’s appeal and despite having performed an Independent Medical Examination, Hartford’s appeals department overturned the claim’s manager erroneous decision to terminate benefits.

Hartford is known for performing video surveillance, Independent Medical Examinations and field interviews as ways to build a case for denial. These tactics are specifically utilized with the intention of establishing for purposes of future litigation that a denial of benefits was not “arbitrary and capricious” but rather a “reasonable” basis with which to deny a claim. If Hartford has requested you undergo an IME, meet with a representative, or have sent video surveillance to your doctor for review you can rest assured that they are looking for grounds to deny your claim.

Please feel free to contact our office and speak to Attorney Jessup or one of our other disability attorneys to discuss your claim.


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Hartford

Hartford Denied My Benefits After 14 years

Reviewed by Becky on September 23rd 2024   Verified Policyholder
Hello. I am contacting you because I see you have won many cases against The Hartford. You won one case that I almost mirror what The Hartford did to the man that was on L... read more >
Hartford

Ran me Around for Months

Reviewed by David on July 5th 2024   Verified Policyholder | January 2024 date of disability
Scammers. Immoral horrible people.
Reply
Sent on July 5th 2024 by Attorney Gregory Dell

David:

It’s horrible that Hartford did that to you.

Hartford

Truly Horrible and Immoral Company with No Customer Service

Reviewed by William M. on June 26th 2024   Verified Policyholder | June 2020 date of disability
My experiences with Hartford have been nothing short of cruel. They started off by claiming that having Glioblastoma, which has an expected life span of about fifteen mont... read more >
Hartford

Sent my Direct Deposit to a Strangers Bank Acct

Reviewed by Brad on May 2nd 2024   Verified Policyholder | February 2024 date of disability
I went on short term disability and The Hartford put my direct deposit into someone else’s bank account. Somehow they messed up a number or two and they are refusing to ... read more >
Hartford

Former Hartford employee has had life insurance and accidental death policy's revoked for one late premium payment

Reviewed by Becky H. THOMAS on February 12th 2024   Verified Policyholder | February 2024 date of disability
Dislike how they are constantly interrupting the lives of their disabled EE's whom are entitled to benefit which they paid into out of there pay check every pay period onl... read more >
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Sent on February 12th 2024 by Attorney Gregory Dell

Thank you for your review of Hartford and we appreciate you sharing.  It’s sad they don’t take care of their own employees.

Hartford

Bad Faith

Reviewed by Dustin G on October 12th 2023   Verified Policyholder | November 2020 date of disability
They kept asking my doctor for the same information that they did not need to process my claim. He kept sending in the same information, and they kept asking for it. My do... read more >
Hartford

Denied by Hartford after 20 years of Payments

Reviewed by Mary on October 11th 2023   Verified Policyholder
Hello,I am a Multiple Sclerosis patient. I also have Lymph-edema, Asthma, Blood-clot problems, Bi-Polar 1 Depression, and Head & Neck Injuries. And now, due to MS, Spast... read more >
Hartford

This company is a scam!

Reviewed by Hana K. on July 13th 2023   Verified Policyholder | December 2022 date of disability
The Hartford does not pay claims. The Hartford only collects premiums. The Hartford doesn’t care if you are terminally ill. I’ve been employed at my employer since 201... read more >
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A: Yes, you will still be responsible for the overpayment even if your Hartford benefits end. Read More >

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A: Nightwatcher, you and your treatment providers will be required to submit additional records and information a... Read More >

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Who are Dell Disability Lawyers?

We are disability insurance attorneys that know how to get your short or long term disability benefits paid. As a nationwide law firm we have helped thousands of disability insurance claimants throughout the United States to collect hundreds of millions of dollars of disability insurance benefits from every major disability insurance company.

In more than 98% of our cases, our attorneys have been able to either get our clients paid monthly disability benefits or obtain a one-time lump-sum settlement. Our disability insurance lawyers have seen it all when it comes to disability insurance claims and we know exactly what it takes for your disability claim to be approved.

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Our clients include all types of employees ranging from retail associates, sales representatives, government employees, police officers, teachers, janitors, nurses, pilots, truck drivers, financial advisors, doctors, dentists, veterinarians, lawyers, consultants, IT professionals, engineers, professional athletes, business owners, and high level executives.

A strong understanding and presentation of the duties of your occupation is essential for securing disability insurance benefits.

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Since we represent disability insurance claimants at different stages of a disability insurance claim we offer a variety of different fee options. We understand that claimants living on disability insurance benefits have a limited source of income; therefore we always try to work with the claimant to make our attorney fees as affordable as possible.

The three available fee options are a contingency fee agreement (no attorney fee or cost unless we make a recovery), hourly fee or fixed flat rate.

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