Disability Insurance Attorney

Disability Insurance Lawsuits Overview

Disability insurance is supposed to provide benefits for when you suffer a covered injury or qualifying illness that will keep you out of work. Unfortunately, getting the long-term disability benefits you deserve is not always easy.

This can be especially frustrating, considering you pay monthly premiums for this policy.

What Is Disability Insurance?

Disability insurance benefits cover a portion (often between 50 and 80%) of your income when you are unable to work due to a disabling injury or long-term illness. There is both long-term and short-term disability insurance. You purchase disability insurance privately or through your work.

There are a few different types of long-term disability insurance policies:

• Own-occupation policies: This type of policy applies as long as your injury or illness prevents you from doing your original job. This applies even if you are able to work in a different field. These benefits continue until you are able to return to the original position.
• Any-occupation policies: This type of policy only applies if you are totally unable to work. If you are able to get another job, your benefits will end.
• Two-year own-occupation policies: This type of policy combines own-occupation and any-occupation policies. It applies like an own-occupation policy for the first two years and then becomes any-occupation policy once those two years are up.

This coverage can be integral to keeping you and your family afloat, especially if you can’t work for a year or longer.

What Are Examples of Disabling Injuries or Illnesses That My Insurance Could Cover?

It depends on your policy, but benefits could include:

• Eye injuries
• Illnesses that impact your vision
• A disabling back or neck injury
• Nerve damage
• Heart disease
• Pregnancy complications
• Disabling mental illness

You must check your policy to determine what is covered and what is not covered.

Does Long-Term Disability Cover Pre-existing Conditions?

No. This can become a big issue for you if the insurance company claims that your illness or injury predates your policy effective date. An attorney can use medical records to establish when your injury occurred or illness began.

Long-term disability also doesn’t cover self-inflicted injuries. Your attorney can help if the insurer claims you purposefully injured yourself.

Why Are People Filing Disability Insurance Lawsuits?

Plaintiffs are filing lawsuits against insurance companies, alleging that these corporations denied valid claims in bad faith. They claim their insurers, who should be on their side, used nefarious tactics to avoid paying legitimate claims.

They suffered financial losses and distress due to these denials.

Who Can File a Long-Term Disability Insurance Lawsuit?

To qualify for a long-term disability insurance bad faith lawsuit, you must meet specific criteria:

• You must have a valid insurance claim. (If your coverage lapsed before you filed your claim, chances are, you don’t have a claim. However, it’s important to note that the insurance company might claim that your policy has lapsed in an attempt to deny your claim.)
• You filed a long-term or short-term disability insurance claim. If you have not yet filed, you must believe you have a valid claim to file.
• The insurance company denied your claim or has not denied your claim yet.
• Your claim was denied within the last six months.
• You must not have appealed your denial already. (In some instances, we may be able to help even if you did appeal your denial; we recommend calling our team to see how we can help you.)

We recommend that you call our team even if you aren’t sure whether you qualify. We often determine that people have potential cases, even when they thought they didn’t. The initial consultation is free.

Call our team today for your free consultation with a member of our team.

What Constitutes Bad-Faith Insurance Practices?

Many don’t know what the law considers “bad faith” denials. It’s important to note that a simple denial or a delay is not necessarily bad faith. Bad-faith insurance practices occur when an insurance company purposefully acts in a way that violates a contract with a policyholder. Some examples of bad-faith insurance practices include:

• Requesting additional documentation that is not necessary for your claim
• Referring you to multiple different physicians for alternate medical evaluations
• Being shuttled around from person to person at the insurance company
• Claiming that your injury does not meet your policy’s definition of “disability”
• Arguing that your disabling injury or illness occurred before your policy’s effective date
• Arguing that your disability does not keep you from working
• Claiming that you failed to submit required or requested documentation to establish your claim
• Claiming that your disability is covered by another disability insurance plan (e.g., Veterans Affairs disability insurance)
• Using investigations, photos, or surveillance videos to claim that your injury is not preventing you from performing work-related tasks
• Using threatening language
• Lowballing your settlement/offering an extremely low settlement amount
• Ignoring all communications from you
• Unnecessarily delaying responses to your communications
• Claiming that your policy has lapsed
• Refusing to give you the requested information
• Delaying investigation of your claim
• Denying your claim without investigating
• Denying your claim without a valid reason
• Using ambiguous language
• Changing your policy language after you have filed a claim
• Incorrectly interpreting your policy
• Incorrectly representing your policy
• Using the results of alternate medical evaluations to deny a legitimate claim

Establishing these is difficult, especially for someone with no legal experience. An attorney can handle it for you.

Who Can I Sue for My Insurance Claim Denial?

The following companies have been listed in these disability insurance denial lawsuits:

• Aetna
• AIG
• Allstate
• Anthem
• Berkshire
• Boston Mutual
• Broadspire
• Cigna
• CNA
• Colonial Life
• Companion Life
• Dearborn National
• Great-West Life
• Guardian Life
• Hartford
• HM Insurance Group
• Illinois Mutual
• Jackson
• Liberty Mutual
• Lincoln Financial Group
• MetLife
• Monarch Life
• Mutual of Omaha
• New York Life
• Northwest Mutual
• Ohio National Financial
• Penn Mutual
• Prudential
• Sedgwick
• Sun Life Financial
• Trustmark
• Unum

What Can a Disability Insurance Lawyer Help Me Recover?

Each claim or lawsuit is different, but in most cases, you can recover some or all of the following:

• Contractual damages: These are the losses your claim would have covered had it not been denied.
• Extracontractual damages: These damages go beyond what your policy should have covered. This could include economic losses that resulted from your insurer’s bad faith actions, emotional distress, and attorney’s fees.
• Punitive damages: Punitive damages are extremely rare but could be awarded in some instances. This could include egregious or malicious bad faith.

What Can I Do After a Disability Insurance Provider Denies My Claim?

If your disability insurance provider denied your claim, there are a few things to do to protect yourself:

• Keep your denial letter. Your attorney will need this to establish your case. This letter should include the reason for your denial.
• Call an attorney. You have the right to appeal the denial, but you don’t want to do it alone. Your insurance company doesn’t want to give you the benefits you deserve, and fighting with them again without a team in your corner won’t help you. An attorney with experience handling bad-faith insurance claims will be an asset to you and your case.

We recommend that you call our team immediately. Each insurance policy has a deadline for submitting your appeal. If you fail to file within this time frame, you risk recovering nothing.

What Can a Disability Insurance Attorney Do for You?

A disability insurance attorney can handle every aspect of your case for you. This could include:

Establishing the Reason for Your Denial

As we discussed above, the reason for the denial should be on your denial letter. An attorney can review it to determine whether it is a valid reason or not.

Gathering Evidence of Bad-Faith Insurance Practices

This is almost impossible for the average person to do on their own. You will likely need access to the insurance company’s internal messaging. You likely also need to know what these bad faith practices look like. This is especially difficult because these are often subtle and not apparent. However, an attorney will know what this looks like and how to establish these actions were nefarious.

Managing Communication With the Insurance Company

The insurance company doesn’t want to give you the benefits you deserve. They may get you to do or say something that jeopardizes your case. To prevent this, we communicate with the insurer on your behalf. This also allows you the space you need to focus on your recovery and your family.

Preparing Your Lawsuit

Once your attorney has gathered the necessary evidence, they will use it to build a case. They will also manage the related deadlines. An attorney will also represent you in court if necessary. The insurance company has a team of attorneys ready to defend against these accusations. You should not attempt to handle a lawsuit on your own.

Why Work With the Goldwater Law Firm?

The Goldwater Law Firm is one of the most well-known firms in the nation. We are the Gold Standard in Injury Law and have fought for injured people across the United States for the past 20 years. We refuse to sit back while corporations take advantage of vulnerable, injured people. We always fight for what is right.

We are immensely proud of our history of results, so you know that we won’t pair you with just any attorney. Your success matters to us because it matters to you.

We know that you have a family relying on you and these benefits. We will connect you with a firm near you that will fight for all the benefits you need.

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Disability Insurance Lawyer?

Most attorneys handle cases on a contingency-fee basis. This means it will likely cost you nothing upfront to get legal help. You only pay your disability insurance attorney if they recover compensation for you. Your attorney’s fees come out of your settlement or award. The attorney will either accept a percentage of the settlement or award, or your attorney’s fees will be a part of the damages the insurer pays you.