A ruling won by DeBofsky, Sherman & Casciari, Curtis v. Hartford Life & Acc.Ins.Co., 2014 WL 485233 (N.D.Ill. August 20, 2014) illustrates the importance of considering the combined impact of more than one medical condition in determining disability.
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.
Most group disability insurance policies limit the duration of benefit payments for mental impairments. An interesting ruling out of Pennsylvania focuses on what constitutes a “mental impairment.” In Berkoben v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., 2014 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 39385 (W.D.Pa., Feb. 21), a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation, the court recommended overturning Aetna’s termination of benefits based […]
In Fontaine v. Metropolitan Life Ins.Co., 2014 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 41253 (N.D.Ill. March 27, 2014), DeBofsky, Sherman & Casciari scored a major victory in securing an award of long-term disability insurance for a partner in a major law firm. The plaintiff, Mary Fontaine, enjoyed a successful career as a partner practicing in the field of structured finance for the law firm of Mayer Brown in Chicago where she worked for thirty years.
Long-term disability insurance cases involving fibromyalgia present special difficulties because there are no objective tests for the condition other than a clinical “trigger-point” test. A recent ruling from California handled by attorney Michael McKuin and decided by Judge Dolly Gee presents an interesting and thorough discussion of such a claim that stands out in noting […]
The question of why group long-term disability insurance policies are governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was recently answered in Gross v. Sun Life Assur. Co. of Canada, 2013 U.S.App.LEXIS 17059 (1st Cir. Aug. 16, 2013). That case involved Diahann Gross, an optician who became disabled in 2006 due to complex regional […]