Proving an entitlement to disability benefits on account of pain can be challenging as a recent federal court ruling from Massachusetts recognized. The case of Kamerer v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America, 2018 WL 4539693 (D. Mass., Sept. 21, 2018), involved a claim brought by Judith Kamerer, a former employee of Accenture, who became disabled in 2004 due to fibromyalgia and depression.
While it’s generally accepted that Employee Retirement Income Security Act benefit claimants are not entitled to jury trials, rarely does anyone question the reason why.
According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately one in 10 Americans experience severe pain every day. This pain could be the result of any number of conditions. Because pain is a subjective experience, not every condition that causes pain is known — but what is known is that pain can drastically affect your quality […]
We have all seen the letters in the mail. Your employer is updating their benefits policies, and by law, you are required to receive notification summarizing the changes. These notices contain a lot of legal jargon and fine print, and you probably threw them away without much more than a cursory glance. Although these updates […]
A recent ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves of the Southern District of Mississippi described a history and pattern of bad-faith disability benefit claim denials. The case of Nichols v. Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co., 2018 WL 3213618, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109526 (S.D. Miss., June 20, 2018), involved Juanita Nichols, a […]