Prevailing in an ERISA federal lawsuit against Reliance Standard is a very difficult challenge due to the inherently unfair nature of ERISA litigation, but our disability attorneys have decades of combined experience in representing insureds against Reliance Standard in court.
When taking Reliance Standard to court to secure your benefits you need to know:
In the video below we discuss why winning a lawsuit under ERISA is an uphill battle:
Like most disability carriers, Reliance Standard only provides one level of administrative appeal following a denial of benefits. This means you only have one opportunity before filing a lawsuit to prove to Reliance Standard that their denial of your claim was wrong and that your benefits should be reinstated. However, in the event Reliance Standard denies your appeal your only option is to then file a civil lawsuit in federal court under ERISA. As the above video discusses – being in court fighting for your disability benefits is not a place you want to find yourself.
ERISA disability policies are subject to a statute of limitations, or simply put the timeframe with which you have to file a lawsuit, that is typically three years from the date “proof of loss” is required. Despite the fact that ERISA is a federal law that is intended to be uniformly applied across the country, courts will often have varying interpretations as to when your timeframe to file a lawsuit has lapsed. The most important thing to remember is that when your appeal is denied you must act fast in bringing your lawsuit or you could be forever barred from suing Reliance Standard. Federal courts enforce statute of limitations issues in a very cold and methodical manner and no matter how strong your case or how badly Reliance Standard acted through the processing of your claim – if you do not file your lawsuit before the statute of limitations ends your rights to go after Reliance Standard for your benefits is lost.
No. Under ERISA, you are not entitled to a jury trial. Instead, a federal judge will be the ultimate decider of who “wins” the case. This is a very large departure from most areas of the law as well as what most people think of when they think of “going to court.” If ERISA allowed a jury of your peers to determine if you are disabled your odds of success in court increase, and very likely the incidences of Reliance Standard denials would decrease.
Unfortunately, this again is a resounding no. ERISA does not allow for live testimony in court, meaning you will not be able to argue to the judge why your claim should be approved nor will the judge hear from any of your doctors, family, friends, co-workers, etc. to determine if Reliance Standard was right in denying your claim. This is yet another way in which the law protects Reliance Standard from being held fully accountable for denying your benefits.
After the final denial of your claim by Reliance Standard the Court is only allowed to consider what is in your claim file as of the date of Reliance Standard’s final denial of benefits. The claim file, or administrative record as it is referred to in court, is comprised of all the information you or your doctors provided to Reliance Standard during the course of your claim as well as the information created/obtained by Reliance Standard in administering your claim to include internal notes regarding your claim, any medical reviews conducted on your file, video surveillance information, and any vocational/occupational reviews and reports conducted.
Another important distinction with ERISA lawsuits from other areas of the law is the fact that once Reliance Standard has rendered its final denial of your claim no new information is allowed to be submitted into your claim file for a judge to review. As such the judge can only review the information up to the date of the final denial. This means if you are awarded Social Security after a final denial of benefits, or you had new testing performed that verified all the medical problems supporting your claim for benefits, or any other new information is available that would win your case – a judge cannot consider it. This is why properly preparing your appeal against Reliance Standard is so important – you only get one chance to perfect your claim.
Yes and no. The majority of employer provided Reliance Standard disability insurance policies will contain what is known as a “discretionary clause.” The discretionary clause provides Reliance Standard the authority to be the sole interpreter of the terms and conditions of its policy. It also affects how the judge will review your claim to determine if you are entitled to additional disability benefits.
With the authority provided by the discretionary clause the court will not only defer to Reliance Standard’s interpretation of its policy, but will also force the court to use what is known as the “arbitrary and capricious” standard of review. The arbitrary and capricious standard of review tasks the Court with a two-step process to determine if Reliance Standard’s decision should be overturned.
First the Court will decide if you are disabled, which will be dependent on several factors, to include:
If the judge finds that the medical information available does not support disability as defined under the policy then you lose. If the Court finds that your medical information supports disability under the policy then the judge goes to step two of its analysis. Yes, that is right, if the judge finds you are disabled that does not mean that you have won your benefits with Reliance Standard.
If the judge finds you are disabled then it must conduct the second step of its review – to determine whether Reliance Standard acted arbitrary and capricious in denying your claim. In layman’s term this means – did Reliance Standard have a reasonable basis to deny your claim. If the judge finds that Reliance Standard had a reasonable basis to deny your claim, despite the fact it believes you satisfy the definition of disability in your Reliance Standard policy, the judge must uphold Reliance Standard’s decision.
If Reliance Standard can show that it conducted a reasonable review of your claim (note that this does not mean fair) then it can typically prevail on the second step under the arbitrary and capricious standard of review. In denying your decision Reliance Standard is not required to have you physically examined by a doctor and many courts throughout the country hold that simply having your file reviewed by a doctor and relying on that reviewing doctor’s opinion is sufficient to establish a “reasonable basis” to deny your claim. There is no requirement that the judge defer to your doctor’s opinions over Reliance Standard’s nor is there any rule that prevents Reliance Standard from relying on its doctor’s opinions over the opinions of yours. All Reliance Standard has to show is that it provided a reasonable review, regardless how minimal that review may be, for a court to uphold the denial of your claim for benefits.
In our experience, the answer is without question yes. Although ERISA is an unfair law to the insured if you do not pursue your rights in court against Reliance Standard then they ultimately win. If you find yourself with a final denial of benefits Reliance Standard has already told you they are not going to pay any more money, so there is very little for you to lose.
Our attorneys have handled countless lawsuits against Reliance Standard and know how to maximize our client’s chances of success as well as the value of your claim. If your appeal has been denied by Reliance Standard contact our office today to speak with one of our disability attorneys.
We work with you, your doctors, and other experts to submit a very strong Reliance Standard appeal.
We have filed thousands of disability denial lawsuits in federal Courts nationwide against Reliance Standard.
Our goal is to negotiate the highest possible buyout of your long-term disability policy.
Our goal is to get your application for disability income benefits approved. Applying for disability 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 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 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 lawyers 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 lawyers 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 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 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.
We are disability insurance lawyers 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.
In more than 98% of our cases, our lawyers have been able to either get our clients paid monthly disability benefits or obtain a one-time lump-sum settlement. Our 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 welcome you to contact any of our attorneys 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 700 videos and regularly provide tips to help protect your disability benefits.
Our lawyers 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 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, GoToMeeting sessions, or Skype. 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 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.
