This is the second of a two-part column. The first part was published on Wednesday. In Part 1 of this column, we discussed a disability income insurance claim filed by Dr. Kevin McCann and the ruling issued by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, focusing on the ERISA aspects of the case. In Part […]
A new ruling from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals raises a number of interesting issues regarding the limits of coverage under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act as well as how occupation-specific disability is analyzed.
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), formerly known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) is a chronic pain syndrome that can occur after an injury, and its persistence is often significantly worse than the original injury. It is a difficult condition to diagnose and common for disability insurance companies to refute or deny as a compensable disability […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]