New Hope If Your Disability Insurance Claim is Denied

If you file a claim for long-term disability insurance benefits, and that claim is denied, arrange at once to meet with a California life and disability insurance claims attorney. That attorney will take the appropriate steps to fight for the disability insurance benefits you deserve and need.

If you have purchased long-term disability insurance through your employer, your policy is likely governed by ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. ERISA sets minimum standards for the group insurance plans provided through private employers.

If your ERISA disability insurance claim is rejected, you will not be alone. Claims for disability benefits under ERISA are frequently rejected. If your own claim for disability benefits is denied, arrange at once to speak with a California life and disability insurance claims lawyer.

What Determines Your Eligibility for Disability Insurance Benefits?

Proving to an insurance company that you are disabled is a challenge. A doctor’s statement is usually not sufficient. Even disability claims that are approved by the Social Security Administration may be rejected by an insurance company if you are covered under a group disability policy through an employer.

It is the insurance company’s definition of a disability – and not the Social Security Administration’s definition – that will determine if you qualify for long-term disability insurance benefits.

However, in a recent California case, the Social Security Administration’s award of disability benefits played a key role in a judge’s decision in favor of the plaintiff. It is a precedent-setting decision that may help many more disability insurance applicants obtain their benefits.

What is an Administrative Record?

What is notable about Logan v. Prudential Insurance Company of America is the way the judge considered Mrs. Logan’s Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) award letter.

Her attorneys at McKennon Law Group PC filed a motion to include the SSDI award letter with the administrative record of the case because it was evidence that Mrs. Logan was in fact disabled and because the award letter was not available until after the case’s administrative record had already been prepared.

Generally speaking, new evidence may not be introduced in these cases. When a federal judge hears an ERISA case, the administrative record is typically the only evidence considered. It includes every document provided by the plaintiff or the plan administrator that is pertinent to the case.

Why Was Logan v. Prudential Insurance Company of America Important?

The motion to include the SSDI award letter with the administrative record of Mrs. Logan’s case was denied. However, the judge wrote that the “Social Security Administration’s decision . . . corroborates [Mrs.] Logan’s own and her doctors’ accounts of her disabling pain.”

While the SSDI award letter did not become part of the administrative record, the simple fact that the SSDI award letter was issued was considered supporting evidence for Mrs. Logan’s claim.

As a result of Logan, a court can now use the issuance of an SSDI award letter to support a disability insurance claim even if the award letter is not included in the administrative record of the case.

Read more from the case file here.

What if Your Own Disability Insurance Claim is Denied?

If your own ERISA-based disability insurance claim is denied, consult a California life and disability insurance claims attorney and appeal that denial. Your lawyer will help you prepare an appeal and ensure that you are compliant with ERISA guidelines.

U.S. District Courts have jurisdiction over ERISA-related cases. If you file an administrative appeal with the insurance company to no avail, your California life and disability insurance claims lawyer may then bring a lawsuit against the insurance company in federal court.

After Logan v. Prudential Insurance Company of America, if you have been awarded disability benefits by the Social Security Administration, your lawsuit against an insurance company that has denied your disability claim is now more likely to prevail.

If you need ERISA disability or life insurance benefits and your claim has been rejected, act now, and promptly schedule a consultation with a California life and disability insurance attorney such as the highly successful and experienced team for ERISA Claims at McKennon Law Group PC.