A recent ruling received by DeBofsky, Sherman & Casciari examined the issue of how to determine pre-disability earnings. In Cheney v. Standard Ins. Co., 2015 WL 2015 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 30918 (N.D.Ill. March 13, 2015)(Issue: Pre-Disability Earnings). In an earlier ruling (Cheney v. Standard Ins. Co., No. 13 C 4269, 2014 WL 4259861 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 28, […]
In 2013, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals electrified the ERISA world when it ruled that in addition to paying benefits due after a wrongful rejection of a disability insurance claim, the Life Insurance Company of North America (LINA), a Cigna Corp. subsidiary, would also have to disgorge the profits it earned on the […]
Signing a severance agreement or settlement agreement with an employer that contains a general release may unintentionally bar a claimant from pursuing a disability benefit claim under ERISA. That was the lesson learned by Dr. Thomas Gonda, Jr., who worked as a thoracic surgeon at Kaiser Permanente until he became disabled due to cognitive impairments […]
In evaluating occupational disability claims, insurers distinguish between the insured’s job and their occupation. If an employee cannot perform their job, they may still be denied disability insurance benefits if they remain capable of performing their occupation as it is generally performed in the national economy. Polnicky v. Liberty Life Assur.Co. of Boston, 2014 WL […]
A recent DeBofsky, Sherman & Casciari victory, Cheney v. Standard Ins.Co., 2014 WL 4259861 (N.D.Ill. August 28, 2014) illustrates the concept of being disabled while still working and thus qualifying for disability insurance benefits. The plaintiff, Carole Cheney, was a non-equity partner at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, LLP who specialized in appellate […]
An insurer recently learned a hard lesson in how not to terminate disability benefits in Bertelsen v. Hartford Life Ins.Co., 2014 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 19225 (E.D.Cal. Feb. 14, 2014).
There, the plaintiff, Karen Bertelsen, worked as an engineering document control manager until she became disabled in 2008 on account of back pain caused by degenerative disk disease of the lumbar spine.