It is extremely frustrating and stress-inducing to receive a letter in the mail terminating or denying long-term disability benefits. People with long-term disability insurance, either through an employer-provided policy or a privately purchased policy, rely on funds being available if they are hurt and cannot work. The important thing to know is that insurance companies do sometimes change their minds …
In a recent case, Trahan v. United of Omaha Life Insurance Co., No. 2:21-CV-02281, 2022 WL 710436 (W.D. La. Mar. 9, 2022), the plaintiff alleged that he was disabled due to high blood pressure and anxiety. He filed a claim with his employer’s disability insurer only to have the claim denied. The plaintiff alleged that his high blood pressure and …
Published by The Pellegrin Firm March 24, 2021
In a recent decision, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision ruling that Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company was wrong in finding that a man disabled due to prostate cancer was not covered by his employer’s group policy when he became disabled.
Published by The Pellegrin Firm December 26, 2020
A federal district court in California recently found that Aetna erred in denying long-term disability benefits to a Software Management Engineer employed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a federally funded research facility owned by NASA and managed by California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Published by The Pellegrin Firm January 5, 2019
In a ruling dated December 27, 2019, a federal district court judge affirmed The Hartford’s decision to offset a disabled Atlas Air, Inc. employee’s long-term disability benefits with Social Security Retirement benefits.
Published by The Pellegrin Firm December 17, 2019
In a recent decision dated December 4, 2019, a federal district court in Maryland returned a favorable decision for a claimant seeking long-term disability benefits for her fibromyalgia.
Published by The Pellegrin Firm December 3, 2019
Posting on social media can be dangerous if you have filed or are thinking about filing a long-term disability claim. It is now standard operating procedure among long-term disability insurers to check a claimant’s social media history in the hopes of finding anything that may contradict a claimant’s allegations of disability.
Published by The Pellegrin Firm August 13, 2019
This question is one of the “labyrinthine complexities” of ERISA law and practice, as stated by the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in last year’s decision, Manuel v. Turner Indus. Grp., L.L.C., 905 F.3d 859 (5th Cir. 2018).
Published by The Pellegrin Firm August 11, 2019
Living while receiving long-term disability benefits from an insurance company can feel stifling. If the insurance company is paying tens of thousands of dollars to a claimant yearly, it may find it cost effective to invest in surveillance – either through social media or in person – to find a reason to terminate benefits.
In a brief per curiam decision dated June 11, 2019, and not designated for publication, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi rejecting United of Omaha Life Insurance Company’s application of a pre-existing condition exclusion to the claim for long-term disability …