Disability Insurance Lawsuit Stories

In Harlan Ten Pas v. The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, (Lincoln) Plaintiff, a tax attorney with the firm of McGladrey LLP (McGladrey), suffered a heart attack on Sunday, August 31, 2014. He had worked a full day at the office on Friday, August 29, 2014.Plaintiff worked at home part of each day, Sunday August 30 and Saturday August 31, before going to his summer camp in Wisconsin f...

In the case of Paul Luu v. First Unum Life Insurance Company of America (Unum), Plaintiff had been employed by MUFG Union Bank (Union) for approximately 25 years when, on February 12, 2015, he was given a negative performance review and put on notice that he could be terminated.Plaintiff stated that on that date, "it all came together... mentally and physically, he could not do it anymore. H...

In Leo Noga v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company (Reliance), Plaintiff, a financial advisor with Fulton Financial, stopped working on February 27, 2015. At the time, he was covered under a disability insurance policy issued by Reliance. The terms of the policy granted Reliance the discretion to determine benefit eligibility. Those covered must submit satisfactory proof of total disability in o...

In Devono Watson vs. Western & Southern Financial Group Flexible Benefits Plan (Plan), Plaintiff had been employed for more than 28 years as a Senior Case Analyst at Western & Southern Life Insurance Company when she became unable to work. She applied for short term disability (STD) benefits in August 2017 under her employee benefit plan provided by her employer. According to the terms of the...

In Ralph Dewsnup v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America (Unum), Plaintiff was a trial attorney with the law firm of Dewsnup King & Olsen when he underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery after suffering a heart attack on March 18, 2015. As far as his heart was concerned, the surgery was a success. But he was left with constant pain across his chest near the area of his incis...

In Dana Krysztofiak v. Boston Mutual Life Insurance Co. (Boston), Plaintiff, a registered nurse, was employed as a Clinical Coordination Manager for HomeCare Maryland, LLC. On December 29, 2016, she stopped working due to psoriatic arthritis and fibromyalgia.At the time, Plaintiff filed a claim for long term disability (LTD) benefits under a Boston Mutual Life Insurance Co., p...

The Plaintiff in Daniel M. Wehner v. Standard Insurance Company (Standard) was an independent financial planner who was insured under a Group Long Term Disability Insurance Policy (Plan). He obtained his policy through the Association for Independent and Franchise Professionals. The Plan was administered by the Standard Insurance Company.The Plan provided short-term disability (STD) ben...

In the case of Michael J. Christoff v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America (Unum), plaintiff was a partner in the firm of Spencer Stuart. He was a high-level executive, generating one to two million dollars a year in revenue, "developing a network of contacts, constant availability to clients, and extensive travel." In November 2001, Plaintiff became disabled due to severe fibromyalgia a...

In the case of Robert Gordon v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife), Plaintiff was a Senior Staff Systems Programmer with Borland Software Corporation from 1989 until he was fired on May 1, 2002. He suffered from a multitude of psychological and physical conditions including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He claimed these problems were all due to harass...

In Jerry Courville v. Life Insurance Co of North America (LINA), Plaintiff was employed as a shop manager for Schlumberger Technology Corporation (STC). In 2015, he began experiencing neck and back pain. In July 2015, he underwent a three-level spinal fusion. Three months later, he underwent a one-level spinal fusion.Plaintiff filed a claim for short-term disability (STD) benefit...

The case of Spears v. Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston (Liberty) began when Plaintiff was employed by United Technologies Corporation (UTC) and covered by a disability insurance program offered by her employer and administered by Liberty. It was undisputed that prior to the onset of numerous symptoms, including nausea and daily migraine headaches, Plaintiff was a good worker in her ...

In the case of Lapidus vs. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am. a Missouri federal court ruled against New York Life finding that New York Life wrongfully terminated long term disability benefits to Lapidus after having initially approving her claim for benefits. Prior to filing for disability benefits Lapidus worked as the vice-president of medical benefits for BJC Healthcare. Despite having undergone a spinal fusion and ...

The case of Allison Pfifer v. Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc., teaches claimants the importance of complying with the terms of their disability insurance policy. The specific terms at issue here are: 1) the need to support claims with substantial medical evidence; and 2) complying with contractual deadlines established by the insurance policy for short-term disability (STD) benefits an...

The Plaintiff in this case was vice-president of Medical Benefits at BJC Healthcare when a severe back condition required her to have a spinal fusion. She was awarded short term disability (STD) benefits while she recovered. Unfortunately, she suffered serious complications following the surgery which delayed her recovery. Her application for long term disability (LTD) benefits was initially approved, but four...

In Lowe v. Lincoln Nat'l Life Ins. Co., Plaintiff suffered a stroke in May 2016 while working for Diversicare Healthcare Services, Inc. Diversicare provided its employees with long-term disability (LTD) benefits under a policy issued by The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company (Lincoln).The stroke rendered Plaintiff unable to work. She was initially awarded benefits under the plan from November 6, 2016 ...

The Plaintiff in Patricia Ann McNeal v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife), was employed by Alternative Opportunities, Inc. (Alternative) as a mental health therapist when she fell in January 2014 and injured her left knee. Alternative provided short-term disability (STD) and long-term disability (LTD) insurance coverage to eligible employees.McNeal was an eligible employee of the benefit plan, ...

In Christoff v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America, Plaintiff Christoff suffered from severe fibromyalgia. He was insured under a group employee benefit plan provided by his employer and the insurance company was Unum. He began receiving long-term disability (LTD) benefits from Unum in November 2001. More than 15 years later, on November 22, 2016, Unum determined he was no longer disabled and terminated hi...

In Sue Ray v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company, W.D. Washington, July 31, 2018, Plaintiff filed suit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) to recover long-term disability (“LTD”) benefits, which Reliance Standard denied on the ground that plaintiff could perform her “Regular Occupation” and was therefore not “disabled” within the meaning of the LTD policy a...

The case of Dionisio Santana-Diaz v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife) demonstrates how important it is for claimants to present as much medical evidence as possible to the plan administrator who is evaluating the claim for Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits. Despite many opportunities to do so during the initial evaluation and subsequent administrative appeal, Santana failed to provide the reques...

The action by Ohio National means that they will no longer pay commissions on existing VA annuities as the agents and brokers claim was promised to them in their servicing agreements. As a result of the insurance company's letter terminating commissions, numerous lawsuits across the country have been filed by its brokers and agents.The Lawsuits: BackgroundBetween 2012 and 2018, brokers and agents sold ...