If you are ill or have been injured and can no longer work, disability insurance protects you and your family from financial hardship by paying a portion of your income when you cannot work. The disability benefits claim process can be complicated, particularly when you have to establish that you are disabled from all work, not just your own occupation.
Many disability insurance policies evaluate an insured’s earning capacity to determine entitlement to benefits. For an insurance company to be able to assess earning capacity, the insured’s education and work experience are critical factors. A recent ruling from the federal court in Chicago, Contreras v. United of Omaha Life Insurance Co., 2017 WL 1493701 (N.D. […]
The case of Pannebecker v. Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston, 2008 U.S.App.LEXIS 19753 (9th Cir., Sept. 18), involved the question of whether, in assessing a claimant’s ability to work at ”any occupation,” the individual’s pre-disability earnings and station in life have to be taken into consideration. This claim arose in 1996 when Nancy J. […]
Kaelin v. Tenet Employee Benefit Plan, 2007 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 86063 (E.D.Pa. Nov. 21), has had a long and tortured history. Before this final ruling, the district court had issued two earlier rulings: Kaelin v. Tenet Employee Benefit Plan, 405 F. Supp. 2d 562 (E.D. Pa. 2005), and Kaelin v. Tenet Employee Benefit Plan, 2006 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 14858 […]
In Weiss v. Prudential Ins.Co. of America, 2007 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 56357 (D.N.J. Aug. 2), the plaintiff, who worked for a country vocational board of education as a food services instructor for special education students was injured when he slipped and fell in a freezer at work and herniated a disk in his back. Weiss had disability […]
Although unpublished, a recent case from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals presents a number of significant issues and should be reissued as a published decision. Houston v. Unum Life Ins.Co. of America, 2007 U.S.App.LEXIS 18553 (July 27). Houston involved a claimant who worked as a housekeeping supervisor for Ritz-Carlton Hotels for more than […]