Dr. Ghandi Gutta filed a claim for Long Term Disability Insurance when he was no longer able to continue his practice as a laparoscopic surgeon due to multiple medical conditions. When his definition of disability changed to “any occupation” at the end of two years his insurer, Standard Select, terminated…
A Louisiana court recently rejected a long term disability insurer’s attempts to hide behind the protections afforded insurance companies by ERISA. In Gulf Coast Plastic Surgery v Standard Insurance Co. the Court determined that a claim that the insurance agent failed to increase the policy limits despite the doctors request…
At least they weren’t ranked as the worst insurance company for consumers. (That award goes to Allstate.) Long Term Disability Insurer-Unum was ranked second from worst in a recent study cited by the SunHerald.com. Despite agreeing to pay a massive fine and review thousands of its Long Term Disability claims…
On June 19 the Supreme Court issued its much anticipated decision in Metlife v Glenn regarding the conflict of interest created by a long term disability insurer who both determines whether an insured is eligible for benefits and pays benefits out of its own pockets. Justice Breyer authored the majority…
Recently, the US District Court (Judge Richard Enslen) upheld the Michigan Insurance Commissioner’s right to prevent any Long Term Disability Insurer from including discretionary clauses in their insurance contracts in the case American Council of Life Insurer’s v Waters. This could be a tremendously important decision for anyone with a…
“That Smells Bad” said Justice Scalia as he described disability insurer-MetLife’s conflict of interest. The US Supreme Court heard Oral arguments last week in Glenn v. Metlife. This is an important decision for all disability claims governed by ERISA. The Supreme Court examined how Metlife’s inherent conflict of interest–as both…