Disability Insurance Lawsuit Stories

This video features the testimony of Montana United States Senator Max Baucus at a Senate Finance Committee Meeting. Senator Baucus focuses his testimony on the problems with ERISA disability insurance laws and the unfair claims handling practices of disability insurance companies.Senator Baucus pays specific attention to two long term disability insurance cl...

Here are examples of two recent cases in which SunLife Insurance Company and Aetna Life Insurance Company had a structural conflict of interest and denied disability insurance benefits. In most long term disability insurance claims which are governed by ERISA there is an inherent structural conflict of interest. The conflict of interest exist because the disability insurance company not only pays the benefits,...

In any claim for any disability benefits, the deciding factor which disability insurance companies will decide on will be whether you are what they define as being "disabled" or not. Most insurance companies however, will try to define the scope of what constitutes "disabled" as narrowly as possible to their advantage. The situation is especially compounded when a claimant is disabled due to substance abuse. S...

A recent Sun Life disability claim by a gunshot victim ended up as a lawsuit in the Orange County Superior Court because of the reluctance of the disability insurance company to pay out any long term benefits to its plan's participants. In Marilyn Ellis v Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, the plaintiff Marilyn Ellis with her disability attorney contended that she was at all times a participant to a group l...

Eric Wilson has brought a lawsuit in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana against Reliance Standard Insurance Company and Lincoln National Life Insurance Company because the companies have refused to reply either pro or con to his petition for disability benefits in compliance with his insurance policy contract.Background of Wilson's Disability Benefits ClaimReliance an...

This video is a portion of a video-taped testimony from a long term disability insurance claim denial lawsuit. The actual testimony in this video was presented to a jury in federal court.The jury awarded disability benefits to our client. The deposition was completed on behalf of our client by attorney Gregory Michael Dell. While watching this video, you can ...

A lawsuit seeking to recover monetary damages from Prudential Insurance Company (Prudential) was recently filed at the Supreme Court of the state of New York. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff Robert Hamil, through his New York disability attorney, alleged that Prudential's termination of his long term disability claim was in violation of his benefit rights that were protected under the Employee Retirement Income ...

Participating in a disability insurance plan is always an excellent idea as a safeguard against unforeseen circumstances. Nevertheless, we tend to forget that when the time comes for us to try and claim our disability benefits, the disability insurance companies are always extremely reluctant to fork out what is due to us. Quite often, the language that is used in the plan issued by the disability insurance co...

A Federal Appellate Court upheld an insurance company's decision to terminate the long-term disability benefits of a woman who suffered from recurrent major depression. Although the woman claimed to now be suffering from Lyme disease, CUNA Mutual discontinued her benefits after two years due to the policy's 24 month mental illness limitation. The Court agreed with CUNA Mutual that there was insufficient eviden...

Can a person undergo a 5 level surgical fusion procedure and not have any restrictions or limitations? That was the position taken by a medical consultant hired by MetLife. The physician in this video deposition has reviewed hundreds of long term disability claims on behalf of MetLife.This video is an excerpt from the video-taped deposition of an orthopedic ...

A District Court ruling issued in New York's Southern District Court illuminates the importance of understanding the meaning of an "occupation qualifier" and/or an "earnings qualifier" requirement in your long-term disability insurance policy. In general, to qualify for disability under a policy that requires these two prerequisites you must show that:During the elimination period as well as during the fo...

Is it the disability insurance claim representative or hired insurance company doctor that makes the decisional to approve or deny benefits?Most disability claims examiners do not have any medical background or training, but they should be smart enough to know that is unreasonable to rely on the medical opinions of a doctor/consultant that is paid $577,00 by ...

UNUM Life Insurance Company of America has refused to honor its obligation to provide Scott A. Boles with his disability insurance benefit income even though Mr. Boles qualifies for benefits stipulated in two UNUM Life Insurance Company disability insurance policies. UNUM denied Mr. Bole's disability insurance benefits on both his individual disability policy, on which he has paid all premiums on time and in f...

An affirming opinion from the Fourth Circuit United States Court of Appeals shows how Administrators of ERISA long term disability benefits can't abuse their power of discretion in North Carolina. This case against LINA also known as CIGNA, is a great victory for claimants suffering from fibromyalgia. In the appeal of Rebecca DuPerry v. Life Insurance Company of North America, Appellee Rebecca DuPerry pre...

Most long term disability insurance policies allow the insurance company to offset the monthly disability payments to an insured if the insured is receiving "other income" from certain sources. Often, these other sources include any Social Security disability or retirement benefits, workers' compensation benefits, retirement plan benefits from the employer, or even earnings the insured receives from any other ...

A federal district court in Pennsylvania recently dismissed Claimant Barry Sunshine's complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Alleging that Reassure America Life Insurance and Swiss Re Life & Health America, Incorporated prematurely terminated his and other similarly-insured individual's disability insurance benefits, Sunshine and his disability attorneys were attempting to right a wrong for not...

Failing to comply with administrative requirements in a timely manner as specified by Fortis Benefits Insurance Company resulted in Elizabeth A. Bailey being denied benefits from her deceased husband's short-term disability benefits, long-term disability benefits and life insurance policies. Having neglected to follow proper ERISA procedures in pursuing long-term disability and life insurance benefits from For...

Citing a financial incentive to cheat, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently overruled the decision of CIGNA (CI) to deny disability benefits to a man suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. For anyone disabled by chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia this is a very supportive case and great law. The court provided five reasons that Cigna abused its discretion by denying disability insur...

After repeated appeals asking CIGNA / LINA to change their decision regarding denial of waiver of life insurance premiums due to total disability, Wendy Magee was recently forced to hire Michigan disability attorneys and file an ERISA disability lawsuit in the Federal Court of the Western District of Michigan.Ms. Magee worked as a Home Coordinator with the Hope Network. The Hope Network is a non-profit org...

An ERISA disability lawsuit was filed against the Liberty Life Assurance Company, this time in Federal Court in the Middle District of Florida. Andrea Medders was forced to file suit after her administrative appeals were denied and Liberty Life, also known as Liberty Mutual refused to pay her long term disability benefits.In the suit, Ms. Medder's tampa disability attorneys argues that Liberty Life did not...