I represent claimants against insurance companies which issue Short Term and Long Term Disability benefits policies. I can say that every one of these companies has issued a denial of benefits which can only be described as astonishing.
They include Aetna, Prudential, Hartford, Provident, Unum, MetLife, Penn Mutual, MassMutual, MONY, Diversified Management Services, Lincoln, Reliance, Standard, Cigna, Life Insurance Company of North America, and Nationwide. The astonishing feature may be the willful ignorance concerning the client’s medical condition, the timing of the denial, the faulty reasoning of the denial of benefits, or the underhanded tactics of the investigation process.
It is clear from these tactics that the decision to deny is based on something other than a determination that a particular claimant does not meet the definition of disability as found in the policy they have issued. Sometimes a CEO issues a directive that all claims be denied except the clearest ones (as was done in the late 90’s by one large insurance company). Maybe a claims representative is trying to advance his or her career by being tough on all cases. Maybe a claims representative develops an enmity toward a particular claimant. I have one right now in which the claims representative knows that my doctor’s wife client is clearly disabled but routinely messes with her benefits out of jealousy.
All of this is the unfortunate result of the great power given claims representative to make benefits determination, especially in cases governed by the federal statute commonly referred to as “ERISA.”
If you have questions about how your denial claim is being handled, you should contact an attorney who routinely handles claims involving policies of disability insurance. The vast majority fo the cases handled by the law offices of Herbert M. Hill, P.A. are such cases. It is what we do. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss your case with you, at no charge. You can contact me at 407-839-0005 or at hmh@herbertmhill.com.
If you would like, after discussing your case, we can set a conference. That conference would be free of charge and you would be under no obligation to hire me nor would you feel any pressure from me to do so. I would like to see what I can do about your denial of benefits.
Herbert M. Hill, P.A. is a law firm located in Orlando, Florida with a practice extending throughout the state of Florida and the southeastern part of the United States, including Georgia and Alabama. Areas of practice include disability and employee benefit claims of all sorts. The firm handles any claims arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (known and referred to as “ERISA”) for disability benefits, medical benefits, retirement benefits of any sort, including pension, 401k, termination agreements or the like as well as claims arising under private disability policies.
