Disability Insurance Lawsuit Stories

Receiving disability benefits from a disability plan is no guarantee that the plan won't take you to court to get back benefit payments it feels it overpaid, a lesson that Wooten Epes learned in April 2010. Not only did Unum Life Insurance Company of America (Unum) terminate his disability benefits, the disability insurance company also sought to recover what it claimed was an overpayment of benefits. How did ...

Hartford is notorious for using video surveillance and probably utilizes it more than any other disability insurance company. A recent decision rendered by the U.S. District court in the Western District of New York in Theresa Williams v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company highlights the merit the Court is willing to give video surveillance when a long-term disability plan administrator uses it as ev...

More than 8 years after her initial long term disability claim denial, Ms. Wise will finally have her ERISA disability case heard in a Washington Federal Court.Statutes of limitation remain a challenge when dealing with disability insurance plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The reason for this stems from the fact that Congress did not attach a statute of limitations to ERISA w...

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife) began paying John Magee long-term disability benefits in December 2004 after he was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and disabling depression. Two years later, after conducting what it claimed was a thorough review, MetLife terminated his benefits because he no longer suffered from disabling depression and had not been able to supply objective proof that Met...

Without disability attorney chronic fatigue sufferer would be denied rightful benefitsMagee v. MetLife is another disability case that highlights the importance of hiring a disability insurance attorney when you have been denied disability benefits for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). It is far too common for disability insurance plans to use the lack of "objective proof" as a reason for denying the existen...

Court finds Unum-Provident guilty of arbitrary decision when it denies short-term disability claim.U.S. District Courts are holding disability insurance plans accountable for denying benefits to claimants with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome when the claimants are unable to provide objective evidence of their symptoms. This is emphasized once again by a recent ruling in the Western District of Ne...

Disability attorney concludes the medical evidence proves wrongful denial of disability benefits.When Jean Strope's disability attorney filed suit on her behalf in the Western District of New York September 15, 2006, he believed his client had a strong case for wrongful denial of short-term disability benefits. U.S. District Courts are holding disability insurance plans, such as the one issued to HSBC Bank...

Unum Provident Reviews Approved Benefits to Assure Continuing QualificationWhen Nancy Perryman stopped working on February 28, 1997 she was the Western Farm Bureau Insurance Company's agency manager for metropolitan Phoenix and Northern Arizona. She supervised between 18 and 21 insurance agents who worked out of Western Farm Bureau's various insurance offices. She's earned around $300,000 each year in comm...

When Nancy Perryman stopped working, she was the Western Farm Bureau Insurance Company's agency manager for metropolitan Phoenix and Northern Arizona. It was a complex job, in which she supervised between 18 and 21 insurance agents at Western Farm Bureau's various insurance offices. She's earned around $300,000 each year in commissions, with average monthly earnings of almost $19,000 for the two years before s...

Rosemary McGahey's long-term disability attorney did an excellent job of representing her in U.S. District Court's Massachusetts district in December of 2009. McGahey's disability attorney carefully demonstrated that the administrators of the Harvard University Flexible Benefits Plan had wrongfully terminated McGahey's long-term disability benefits. As part of the court's decision to award McGahey compensation...

Lisa Pakovich and her former employer's long-term disability plan had been in and out of court for almost five years when Judge Michael Reagan listened to arguments between Pakovich's disability attorneys and Verizon Long-term Disability Plan on March 24, 2010. It was the third time he had considered this case in less than a year. He's not the first judge to consider Pakovich's claim. Three U.S. Court of Appea...

If Judge Michael J. Reagan is beginning to tire of considering the case between Lisa Pakovich and her former employer's long-term disability plan, he may have good reason to. He has had to listen to arguments from both Pakovich's long-term disability attorneys and the Verizon Long-Term Disability Plan (Plan) attorneys at least four times in less than a year. He's not the first judge to consider Pakovich's clai...

Physician's Failure to Fill Out Functional Limitations Paperwork Costs Man Rightful BenefitsA supporting physician is essential for any claimant to receive long-term disability benefits. However, a treating physician must do far more than just diagnosis a disabling medical condition. The decision rendered by the U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit in Williams v. Aetna Life Insurance Company continues to...

Frequently, a disability attorney finds that additional information is needed before he or she can demonstrate that a conflict of interest has motivated the denial of benefits by an ERISA governed disability insurance company. In order to secure this information, the disability insurance attorney files a Motion to Compel Discovery. In response, the disability insurance company inevitably contests the need to p...

When Barbara Sterio's disability attorney presented arguments on February 11, 2010 before the Ninth Circuit United States Court of Appeals, he was unsuccessful in convincing the court to review her denial of benefits under the de novo standard of review. But the three judges reviewing Sterio's claim, found that even though the District Court had been correct in choosing to use the abuse of discretion standard ...

On May 24, 2010, the United States Supreme Court rendered an opinion in the case of Hardt V. Reliance Standard, which is a major victory for disability insurance claimants that have a long-term disability policy governed by ERISA. Reliance Standard, a disability insurance carrier attempted to argue that a disability claimant was not entitled to attorney fees because she was not a "prevailing party" after her c...

On September 2, 2009, District Judge William E. Smith of the Rhode Island U.S. District Court filed a Memorandum and Order, delaying his final judgment on the case of D & H Therapy Associates v. Boston Mutual Life Insurance Co. until all of the matters which were not under the jurisdiction of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) could be resolved (you may find the arguments presented to Judg...

The case we are going to look at here highlights the importance of involving a disability insurance attorney in your disability insurance policy purchasing decision. The language in disability insurance policies is complex and can often be turned against you when you most need the benefits. It is never safe to trust the assurances of the disability insurance company that a policy meets your requirements. The f...

A case heard recently before the U.S. District Court in the District of Massachusetts highlights the fact that a long-term disability plan administrator can choose to deny a claim even though the person making the claim may not be able to find employment. The plan administrator does not claim to offer unemployment benefits, so if the long-term disability plan finds that the claimant can work, the plan may refu...

Our law firm was recently contacted by a woman that has been denied long-term disability benefits by Hartford. The claim is currently pending, but I asked if I could share her story so that others could learn about the real actions taken by disability companies such as Hartford. I strongly advise all disability claimants to never submit for a field interview without the presence of an attorney.Hi Greg. YES...