Disability Insurance Lawsuit Stories

A recent decision by a Federal Judge in a California ERISA Disability Lawsuit serves as a reminder to all individuals receiving disability benefits: If your disability policy allows for the insurance company to "offset" other income benefits and to collect for overpayments, you must always remember that eventually you may owe that money to the insurance company should they request it soon thereafter or at a la...

Everyone has heard the expression "You get what you pay for." Disability insurance policies are contracts and the better the policy language for a disabled claimant; then the more expensive it is going to be to buy. Some employers that buy short term or long term disability insurance policies of their employees may look to spend as little as possible. Unfortunately, employees may be stuck with a disability pol...

The case of Helfman v GE Group Life Assurance Company, et al (to include Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada) has an interesting factual history that played out over 6 years. However, it was a recent Order entered by a Michigan federal judge against Sun Life Insurance Company regarding the right to pre-judgment interest on unpaid benefits that is a victory for disability claimants nationwide.The Sun Life ...

A recent ruling was issued on an ERISA Disability Lawsuit that had been filed in Missouri against Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company. While our firm did not handle this case, this case and its ruling is so important because it shows the importance of finding competent representation who have significant experience handling ERISA Disability Appeals and Lawsuits. This disability claimant's case was dis...

Too many disability companies try to wrongfully use the 24 month mental nervous disorder limitation to deny long term disability insurance claims. How can New York Life pay disability benefits for 5 years and then claim a person should be limited to only 24 months of disability payments?In an ERISA Disability Lawsuit, a United States District Court in Oregon recently ruled that the New York Life decision t...

A recent ruling by the United States District Court for the District of Nevada in an ERISA Disability lawsuit allows a claimant a chance for justice after the Federal Court denied multiple motions to dismiss a case that was filed by both Liberty Life Assurance Company and HSBC. Liberty Life and HSBS apparently believed that a disability claimant should not be allowed to file a lawsuit against them after they d...

What is Cigna disability company trying to hide from its own insured? Why would Cigna refuse to release all video surveillance and fail to release information about its relationship with a hired physical therapist? It's unfortunately either an intentional act or the product of unqualified Cigna employees that are being asked to make the claim decisions on short term and long term disability claims.It is no...

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, better known as ERISA, the federal law which governs most employer provided insurance benefit plans (ie. group disability, health, life, etc.), is not known for its favorable treatment of claimants seeking recourse and recovery of monetary damages through the federal courts. However, there can be penalties for an insurance company's or plan administrator's w...

One of the most difficult things in any ERISA governed long term disability claim is dealing with a discretionary clause. A discretionary clause is language found in most ERISA disability policies which gives a plan administrator the ability to choose who will make decisions to approve or deny claims. If a disability policy has a discretionary clause then usually a court must apply an abuse of discretion stand...

From our law firm's experience it seems that Walgreens will look for any excuse to deny short term or long term disability benefits to a plan participant. In a recent disability lawsuit filed in Michigan, Walgreens tried their best to use a legal technicality to dismiss the lawsuit of a former employee. Fortunately, the court did not buy Walgreen's unreasonable argument.Matthew, a Walgreens Store Manager w...

Hartford Disability Lawsuit for a former payroll manager is discussed by disability attorneys Gregory Dell and Cesar Gavidia. The number of Hartford disability benefit denials have seemed to increase lately. The Hartford disability lawsuit discussed in this video took place in New York Federal Court and unfortunately resulted in a victory for Hartford.This ca...

Here is an other example of case against Hartford Insurance Company which shows that you can never let your guard down when it comes to protecting your payment of long term disability benefits. Prior to going on disability, Michael O. was a heavy equipment operator in Virginia. In 2004 he was involved in an automobile accident, which resulted in having to undergo neck surgery. Despite the seriousness of his in...

In countless articles that our law firm has published we have talked about how unfair discretionary clauses are for short and term and long term disability claimants. In the state of Michigan it is crystal clear that any policy issued after July 1, 2007 cannot contain a discretionary clause. This means that a claimant who needs to file a lawsuit will be entitled to have a judge review their claim without any d...

Purchasing an insurance policy that pays benefits for an accidental death and dismemberment would seem like a wise decision since people suffer dismemberment and die from accidents every day. Collecting benefits on an accidental death and dismemberment policy should be simple right? Well, not so fast.In Keane v. The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, a recent decision out of the Western District of M...

This is a very sad disability benefit case against Unum Insurance company. Unum does not dispute that the claimant was disabled, rather they dispute how pre-disability monthly earnings should be calculated. The dispute between Unum and the disability claimant amounts to $10,000 on a monthly basis. In this case, the claimant is an attorney that was involved in a California bicycle accident 4 months into his new...

In an ongoing Hartford disability lawsuit governed by ERISA, a Kansas Federal Magistrate Judge recently ordered Hartford to disclose information regarding its relationship with the "third party vendor" University Disability Consortium (UDC). Additionally, the Judge ordered Hartford to provide data on the number of claims it receives from AIG employees and the percentage it approves/denies.A former empl...

In this video, Attorneys Gregory Dell and Alex Palamara discuss a recent 10th circuit court of appeals case in which the court upheld the denial of disability benefits by Aetna for a Boeing Employee. Attorney Palamara discussess the multiple appeals and long litigation battle this claimant has undergone.This case involved a former Boeing employee that was den...

Recently, Unum was ordered by a Florida Federal District Court to immediately produce documents which it claimed were protected by the Attorney-Client Privilege. This is a case where the Judge essentially told Unum that under ERISA regulations, Unum claims examiners have a greater duty to their own insured rather than their own in-house attorneys.Unum Disability Lawsuit Case HistoryThe Plaintiff, a for...

Filing a bankruptcy used to be a protection for a consumer from all creditors. According to a recent court decision, disability insurance claimants cannot file bankruptcy in an effort to avoid repaying a Social Security Disability overpayment. The majority of long-term disability insurance policies provide that a long term disability insurance company is allowed to reduce the monthly benefit it will pay to...

Most purchasing a disability insurance policy may not negotiate specific language. Rather, insurance companies use stock forms, and the negotiation involves the tradeoff between the extent of coverage and the premium. The insurance company supplies the specific statutory provisions once the extent of coverage is determined.When a dispute arises about specific terms, courts interpreting insurance policies u...