Despite advances in medical science, many medical conditions such as tinnitus – a ringing or buzzing in the ears that afflicts millions of Americans – cannot be objectively diagnosed or verified. The case of Miles v. Principal Life Ins.Co., 2013 U.S.App.LEXIS 13065 (2nd Cir. June 26, 2013), which involved a partner in a major law […]
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that vitamin supplements do not qualify as medical treatment for purposes of a disability claim.
The main lesson taught by a recent federal court ruling issued in Florida, Wilson v. Walgreen Income Protection Plan, 2013 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 62021 (M.D.Fla. April 29, 2013), is that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) imposes duties of good faith and fair dealing that preclude deceptive and unreasonable claim handling tactics. The plaintiff, Deborah Wilson, […]
Woody Allen is quoted as saying that 80 percent of life is just showing up. That was the lesson taught by Neaton v. Hartford Life and Acc.Ins.Co., 2013 U.S.App.LEXIS 5814 (6th Cir. March 21, 2013)(non-precedential) which focused on James Neaton’s absences from work while recovering from multiple surgeries. Neaton, who worked as a debt collector, […]
Is a significant risk of relapse, if a disability benefit claimant were to return to work, a current disability? That was the question answered in Colby v. Union Security Ins. Co., 2013 U.S.App.LEXIS 1149 (1st Cir. Jan. 17, 2013). Although the court acknowledged that another court of appeals had decided the issue differently, in this […]
All disability insurance policies contain provisions requiring that insureds receive regular care from a physician. However, such clauses are usually liberally interpreted. For example in Heller v. Equitable Life Ins. Soc’y, 833 F.2d 1253, 1257 (7th Cir. 1987), the court ruled that such a clause could not be read to require an insured to undergo […]