Two Comcast employees and a registered nurse file three ERISA lawsuits against Liberty Life Insurance in Pennsylvania for denial of disability benefits
Liberty Life Assurance had three ERISA lawsuits filed against it in the United States District Courts of Pennsylvania in July 2011 by disability attorneys. All three cases allege that Prudential is not upholding its duties in the awarding of disability benefits to entitled employees under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
Registered Nurse and her Disability Attorney Challenge Liberty Life’s Denial of Disability Benefits
In Kelly Lucas v. Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston et. al., Lucas and her disability attorney filed suit against the insurer on July 11, 2011 after Lucas had exhausted all her administrative remedies for receiving her rightful disability benefits as provided to her in her Geisinger System Services Plan. A vested member in Geisinger’s Liberty Life insurance plan, Lucas, a registered nurse who had been employed at Geisinger for several years, ceased working at the company on November 4, 2004 due to “lumbar degenerative disc disease and internal derangement of the left knee.” Continuously disabled since that time, Lucas was approved monthly disability benefits that began on May 3, 2005. Shortly after this, on June 2, 2006, Lucas was also awarded Social Security benefits, and on May 3, 2007, Liberty Life terminated their disability benefit contribution to Lucas “claiming she no longer met the definition of disability.”
After review of Lucas’ medical records, Liberty Life reinstated her disability benefits in December of 2008 and then again terminated those disability benefits on December 3, 2008. Lucas provided the insurer with current, additional medical records, and again, the insurer reinstated her disability benefits. Once again, in March 2009, the insurer terminated Lucas’ benefits claiming she was no longer disabled; and this time when Lucas appealed, Liberty denied the appeal which led Lucas and her disability attorney to file the subject lawsuit. In the lawsuit, Lucas and her disability attorney request the District Court order Liberty to restore Lucas’ long-term disability benefits per Lucas’ plan and demand they continue those payments into the future.
Comcast Employee and his Disability Attorney File a Lawsuit against Liberty Life for Denied Disability Benefits
In James Falgione v. Liberty life Assurance Company of Boston, Falgione and his disability attorney ask the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to provide Falgione with the following relief as a result of his denial of disability benefits from Liberty Life:
- Pass judgment in favor of Lucas and demand Liberty Life provide Lucas with all disability benefits due him under his Liberty Life employee insurance plan;
- Award Lucas reasonable attorney’s fees and costs under ERISA; and
- Award Lucas any “other legal or equitable relief as the court deems appropriate.”
An employee of Comcast Corporation, Falgione was insured under a policy purchase by Comcast from Liberty Life. With a significant amount of medical ailments, Falgione became fully disabled, but was denied his disability benefits from Liberty Life. After exhausting all his administrative appeals and supplying Liberty Life with ample medical evidence proving his disability benefits, Falgione engaged a disability attorney to plead his case.
Meniere’s Disease Sufferer and Her Disability Attorney Files Suit against Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston in the United States District Court of Pennsylvania
In Lynda Schreiner v. Comcast Comprehensive Health and Welfare Benefit Plan and Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston, Schreiner and her disability lawyer filed a lawsuit against Liberty Life in the United Stated District Court of The Eastern District of Pennsylvania on July 5, 2011. Suffering from Meniere’s Disease, which causes imbalance and dizziness, Schreiner ceased working at Comcast on April 30, 2010. A Purchase & Procurement Representative, Schreiner received her entitled short term disability benefits from May 10, 2010 until June 25, 2010, but was denied continued benefits in a letter dated September 25, 2010, which Schneider received three months after the date on the letter. She then was issued a “Second Request” denial letter by Liberty Life on November 8, 2010. Providing Liberty Life with some seventy-five faxed pages documenting her appeal and with medical records attached, Schneider appealed the insurer’s decision.
In response, Liberty Life conducted a panel peer review, whose evaluators were not convinced of Schneider’s disability and based on their opinion, Liberty Life upheld its earlier decision to deny Schneider’s disability benefits. With no alternatives left for appeal, Schneider and her disability attorney filed the subject complaint. In March 2011, Schneider’s disability lawyer requested a “complete copy” of Schneider’s administrative record and was advised the record had been misplaced. After other requests, Schneider’s disability attorney received a copy of the records on May 3, 2011.
Upon review of Schneider’s administrative record, her disability attorney determined that he was not provided with the entire record. Consequently, in their lawsuit Schneider and her disability attorney ask the District Court to review Schneider’s Liberty Life documents and award Schneider her contractual disability benefits per the terms of her Liberty Life plan, award interest on unpaid accrued disability benefits, to continue to pay Schneider’s disability benefits until such time as she no longer meets the conditions of her policy, award her attorney’s fees and Court costs, and other relief as appropriate.
Resources to Help You Win Disability Benefits
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5 Ways We Help Get Your Benefits Paid
Our goal is to get your application for disability insurance benefits approved. Applying for disability insurance benefits can be a difficult process and the information you provide is critical. Most disability insurance companies look at your application in hopes of finding a reason to deny your claim. Your disability company will ask you to complete numerous forms, interview you, request lots of information, speak with your doctors and possibly request to have you examined by their hired gun doctor.
Through our experience of having helped thousands of disability insurance claimants, our disability insurance lawyers will guide you through the entire application process and give you the best chance to get your disability claim approved the first time.
If your disability insurance benefits have been wrongfully denied, then our disability insurance lawyers know exactly what it takes to get your disability claim approved. You only get once chance to submit an Appeal, therefore every piece of evidence that will support your disability claim must be included. The goal is to win your disability benefits at the Appeal level, but while preparing your Appeal you must consider how a federal judge will review your disability claim if your benefit denial is upheld.
Preparing a strong disability appeal package is an art that requires you to understand how the courts interpret your disability policy language, ERISA regulations / laws, and how to strategically present evidence in support of your definition of disability. We encourage you to contact any of our long-term disability attorneys for a free immediate review of your disability denial.
98% of the disability insurance lawsuits filed by our law firm have resulted in either the payment of benefits or a lump-sum settlement agreement. Our disability insurance attorneys have filed ERISA governed and private policy long term disability insurance lawsuits against every major disability insurance company in state and federal courts nationwide and we love fighting for the little guy against the multi-billion dollar insurance company giants.
We have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients and we would like the opportunity to provide you with a free review of your disability benefit denial. There are many complex factors in a disability benefit lawsuit and the legal battle to win long term disability benefits can be fierce.
Approval of long-term disability is a continuous process as every disability insurance company will evaluate your eligibility for benefits on a monthly basis. You can never let your guard down and assume that your disability company will continue to pay your benefits for as long as you think you need them.
Our disability insurance law firm offers a reasonable flat fee monthly claim handling service in which we handle every aspect of your long-term disability claim and do whatever it takes to make sure you are paid every month.
Let's discuss if a lump-sum settlement or buyout of your disability insurance claim is both available and makes financial sense for you. Our disability insurance lawyers have negotiated more than five-hundred million dollars in disability insurance buyouts and we know how to get you a maximum settlement. A disability insurance company is not required to offer a buyout and not every disability company offers them.
Questions About Hiring Us
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.
Our attorneys have been able to either get our clients paid monthly disability benefits or obtain a one-time lump-sum settlement in more than 98% of our cases. 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.
We offer disability insurance attorney representation nationwide and we welcome you to contact any of our LTD lawyers for a free immediate review of your disability claim. We also invite you to visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel where we have more than 900 videos and regularly provide tips to help protect your disability benefits.
Our disability insurance attorneys help individuals that have either purchased a long term disability insurance policy from an insurance company or obtained short or long term disability insurance coverage as a benefit from their employer. We have helped individuals in almost every type of occupation with monthly disability benefit payments ranging from $1,500 to $50,000.
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.
Yes. We are a national disability insurance law firm that is available to represent you regardless of where you live in the United States. We have partner lawyers in every state and we have filed lawsuits in most federal courts nationwide. Our disability insurance lawyers represent disability claimants at all stages of a claim for disability insurance benefits. There is nothing that our lawyers have not seen in the disability insurance world.
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.
In every case we provide each client with a written fee agreement detailing the terms and conditions. We always offer a free initial phone consultation and we appreciate the opportunity to work with you in obtaining payment of your disability insurance benefits.
No. For purposes of efficiency and to reduce expenses for our clients we have found that 99% of our clients prefer to communicate via phone, email, fax, or video conferencing sessions. If you prefer an initial in-person meeting please let us know. A disability company will never require you to come to their office and similarly we are set up so that we handle your entire claim without the need for you to come to our office.
When you call us during normal business hours you will immediately speak with a disability insurance attorney. We can be reached at 800-698-9159 or by email. Lawyers and staff must return all client calls same day. Client emails are usually replied to within the same business day and seem to be the preferred and most efficient method of communication for most clients.