On December 31, 2020, New York Life completed its acquisition of all of Cigna’s group disability, accident, and life insurance business. As a result, your Cigna benefit claims are now administered by “New York Life Group Benefit Solutions.” This change applies even if your Cigna claim was approved, and you have been receiving benefits since [...]
Robinson Warncke Sues MetLife under new ERISA regulations This case confirmed the efficacy of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2018 revisions to ERISA’s “full and fair review” claim regulations. At ERISA’s inception in 1974, Congress charged the DOL with enacting regulations defining how insurance companies must behave to fulfill ERISA’s guarantee of a “full and [...]
Did you know COVID-19 brought as many as 1.2 million additional disability claims in 2021? If you suffer from long-haul COVID, you may have been struggling with your insurance company or considering filing for disability benefits. Insurance companies are working to develop policies they expect will be effective through at least the end of 2022, [...]
Dentists tend to have a much higher incidence of neck and back problems than the general population. Dentists are required to be on their feet for hours, often in non-ergonomic positions, while performing procedures on their patients. This takes a toll on the body over time. Many dentists have the foresight to buy disability insurance [...]
Nearly all long-term disability insurance policies exclude coverage for disabilities caused or contributed to by “pre-existing” conditions. Although the 2014 Affordable Care Act known widely as “Obamacare” now prohibits pre-existing condition exclusions in health insurance policies, it is important to understand that this law does not apply to disability insurance. The legitimate purpose for these [...]
Most of our clients are extraordinarily driven, highly successful professionals and executives. Our clients typically have a great deal of themselves invested in their careers, in terms of education, time and energy. Their very identities are very much tied to their careers. People like this deserve the benefit of the doubt when they say they [...]
ERISA Long Term Disability This case resulted in a favorable reported decision from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court rejected a reading of disability policies which would unfairly deny a broad class of claims, and adopted a more practical, realistic analysis of competitive employment for analyzing disability claims.
ERISA Long Term Disability Our client graduated first in his class from a highly respected private law school. After practicing successfully for more than twenty years he suffered a "mild" traumatic brain injury when his car was rear-ended by a speeding car. He became unable to handle the cognitive and emotional demands of his sophisticated [...]
Private Long Term Disability and Insurance Bad Faith | U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Our client was a former family practice doctor disabled by chemical dependency, who also became blind in one eye after his disability started. Client’s submissions to the insurer did not address his blindness. We filed suit, and [...]
ERISA Long Term Disability | U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia This was a fairly straightforward claim for disability benefits, but before the case settled it yielded a reported decision generally helpful to ERISA claimants in this jurisdiction. Over the insurer’s objection, Judge Thrash held that the insurer could be held liable [...]
