Employee Wins Standard LTD Insurance Appeal for HIV / AIDS

Our client, a former employee of the State of Colorado, suffers from AIDS and various secondary AIDS related diseases. His condition has severely affected his short-term memory and caused the “brain fog” that many AIDS patients are plagued with, and further affected him with sudden, explosive diarrhea, and chronic pneumonia.

Our client was initially notified by phone that his claim was approved, and almost immediately thereafter he was approved for long-term disability benefits. Subsequently, he received a correspondence from his disability insurance carrier requesting that he “apply now for Social Security Disability benefits and send [the carrier] a copy of the application receipt…” Immediately after receipt of this correspondence, our client contacted the Social Security Administration and was scheduled for an appointment to submit an application for Social Security Disability Benefits. After, submitting all applications and documentation and complying with all other requirements of the Social Security Administration, our client was approved for Social Security Disability Benefits. Our client notified the carrier of this approval who in turn sent him a correspondence demanding $10,298.00 to “repay the overpayment” by the carrier. Our client submitted a check to Standard for the full amount demanded. Soon thereafter, our client received correspondence from the carrier stating that he no longer met the definition of disability under the terms of his contract, and was being denied any further disability benefits.

Our client thereafter retained our firm to represent him in regard to this wrongful denial by the carrier of his disability benefits. Based on our appeal, our client’s insurance carrier reversed its decision, and has found our client to be totally disabled from any occupations, given his training, education, and experience at the very young age of 46.


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