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June 7, 2019

Insurance Companies Certainly Do Not Make It Easy: Be On the Lookout for Some of Their Tactics

Yahoo Finance published an article about how insurers try to prevent individuals from obtaining disability benefits. While the article discusses Canadian insurers, our experience is that the tactics described in that article also happen in the United States.

This blog elaborates on some of the points raised in the article, especially as they relate to ERISA insureds. The Yahoo article observed:

“Surveillance is a common tactic. Insurers will hire private investigators to try to catch you in the act of doing something a disabled or injured person couldn’t, like moving a ladder or other heavy objects.

June 5, 2019

The Continued Litigation of ESOP Indemnification Agreements

by Susan L. Meter

In an intensely litigated ESOP case involving 14 counts of ERISA violations, on April 22, 2019, Judge Staton, District Judge, Central District of California, certified a class of ESOP participants. The certification came after the court denied Defendants’ motions to dismiss all 14 counts. The case, as a whole, has many interesting legal issues, however, most interesting is the continued litigation of whether indemnification agreements for breaches of fiduciary duty are void.

As background, ERISA § 410 categorically voids indemnification agreements and states, in part “any provision in an agreement…which purports to relieve a fiduciary from responsibility or liability for any responsibility, obligation, or duty…shall be void as against public policy.” However, Department of Labor regulations have interpreted this to permit employer indemnification but not plan indemnification. (29 CFR 2509.75-4). The regulations also permit indemnification agreements so long as it does not relieve a fiduciary of responsibility or liability.

In 2009, we heard the first case in the 9^th circuit that interpreted ERISA § 410 and its regulations, giving some clarity on the validity of indemnification agreements. In Johnson v. Couturier, 52 F.3d 1067 (9th Cir. July 27, 2009) the ESOP participants alleged defendants breached their fiduciary duties by allowing the company to pay excessive compensation to an officer who was a fiduciary to the plan. The company in Johnson was 100% ESOP owned and was in the process of liquidation. The indemnity agreement between officer-fiduciary and plan sponsor (company) provided indemnity unless due to gross negligence or deliberate wrongful acts. Despite the indemnity being paid from corporate assets, which would typically be permitted under DOL regulations, here, because the company was liquidating, the Court held that payment of indemnification by the company would reduce, dollar-for-dollar, the liquidating distribution from the plan – essentially paid by ESOP.

March 29, 2019

What is “Reasonable Continuity” and Why is it Important to My Disability Claim?

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

Disability is not measured only by one’s ability to lift, walk, stand, sit, etc. Rather, the California definition of total disability in a policy insuring one’s ability to perform their own occupation is:

“A disability that renders one unable to perform with reasonable continuity the substantial and material acts necessary to pursue his usual occupation in the usual or customary way.”

In policies insuring one’s ability to perform “any occupation” or “any reasonable occupation,” the definition has been stated as:

May 12, 2018

Kantor & Kantor Restores Long Term Disability Benefits for Fibromyalgia Client

by KantorLaw

In January of 2018, Judge Lawrence O’Neil issued a scathing ruling against Sun Life Financial, finding that it acted arbitrarily and capriciously when denying Ms. Vicki Young’s claim for ongoing disability benefits, and awarding said benefits to the Plaintiff, Ms.Young.

Ms. Young is a 62-year-old former mortgage broker who suffers from a severe form of fibromyalgia, and several other co-morbid conditions. After paying her LTD benefit for several years, Sun Life decided to terminate her benefit, arguing that the independent physician to whom Sun Life sent Ms. Young concluded that Ms. Young was able to return to a sedentary job, and that Ms. Young’s own physician agreed with that conclusion.

Judge O’Neil agreed with Kantor & Kantor’s argument – on Plaintiff’s Ms. Young’s behalf – that not only did Ms. Young’s treating physician support her disability claim (and was merely confused by an intentionally misleading form), Sun Life’s own independent physician actually gave restrictions and limitations which precluded Ms. Young from returning to applicable work under the terms of the policy.

December 1, 2017

Is Oral Argument Dying?

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

When you think of what lawyers do for a living, the first thing you probably think of is arguing over a case in front of a judge.

You may be surprised to learn, then, that in the federal courts this staple of practicing law seems to be on the way out. The federal district courts – the trial courts of the federal system – are increasingly holding fewer and fewer oral arguments. Some district courts even have a standing default rule that they won’t hear oral argument on a motion unless the presiding judge explicitly asks for it.

This trend is even more accentuated in the federal circuit courts – the appellate courts of the federal system. While the Supreme Court of the United States holds oral argument in almost all of its cases, the circuit courts of appeal do not.

July 15, 2017

Whose “Clinical Judgment” Applies to Insurance Denials?

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

The classic “he said, she said” scenario shouldn’t apply to healthcare claims. A denial based on medical necessity arises when there are two opposing opinions: (1) the treating physician who recommends that a patient receive treatment necessary for the patient’s condition; and (2) the insurance company’s physician reviewer who has never seen the patient. In deciding medical necessity, the insurance company must consider clinical judgment. But whose clinical judgment applies?

Clinical judgment is defined as “the application of information based on actual observation of a patient combined with subjective and objective data that lead to a conclusion.” http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/clinical+judgment. In most cases, the only physician who has “actual observation of a patient” is the treating physician.

Yet insurance companies give little to no credence to the clinical judgment of treating physicians. For example, major health insurer, Anthem, states that its physician reviewers will apply guidelines, “Anthem corporate medical policy, and other decision-support material.” And when criteria is not available, “physician reviewers make a determination based on the available information and their independent clinical judgment.” https://www.anthem.com/wps/portal/ahpfooter?content_path=provider/nv/f4/s4/t0/pw_002053.htm&label=Medical%20Management

May 19, 2017

“There used to be considerable skepticism that Fibromyalgia was a real disease. No more.”

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

“There used to be considerable skepticism that Fibromyalgia was a real disease. No more.”

—Kennedy v. The Lilly Extended Disability Plan, –F.3d–, 2017 WL 2178091 (7^th Cir., 2017)

It has been said that disability insurance carriers view a Fibromyalgia diagnosis with skepticism. The disease is an “invisible disease” which cannot be measured on x-ray and its diagnosis is often dependent on an insured’s report of pain, fatigue and cognitive dysfunction. For this reason, insurance carriers often try to discount the disabling nature of the disease. We see carriers do this by: (1) hiring physicians who do not believe in the disabling nature of the disease or (2) demanding the insured submit “objective proof” of the disability, which cannot exist. There are no x-ray’s or MRI’s used for diagnosing Fibromyalgia.

May 12, 2017

Just Because An Insurance Company Denies Your Life, Disability or Health Insurance Claim, DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD GIVE UP!

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

For over 25 years, I have been representing individuals who have had life, health, and disability claims denied by their insurance companies. I have represented over 3,000 people. What is so disheartening to me is that I hear from clients again and again that they “almost gave up before calling” me. They tell me they were beaten down by the process, convinced their insurance company must be right, or that they didn’t know there were lawyers who specialized in handling their kind of case on a contingent basis. While sometimes the client HAS waited too long for us to help them, usually my law firm, Kantor & Kantor, is able to step in and successfully resolve their claim.

However, I wonder just how many DO give up unnecessarily. While my view of the insurance industry may appear very cynical, I am 100% convinced that the industry employs a strategy of denying as many claims as possible in the hope that claimants will just give up and go away. I could write pages upon pages of stories about clients who had almost given up, but for whom we were able to obtain benefits with nothing more than a well written letter. It sometimes seems like the insurance company is daring their insured to challenge the denial, or to get a lawyer. If they do, the insurance company will reconsider its denial. If not, the denial will stand and the insurance company will keep the benefits which are rightfully yours.

In the last month, I have obtained over a $1,000,000 in total benefits for several clients who separately told me that they had seriously considered giving up before calling my firm. This led to me to come back to a familiar thought, which was to wonder about all the people who did simply give up. I decided to write this blog in the hope that maybe ONE insured might read it, and decide not to give up. I am not writing this to get business. I have more than I need. I practice in California, but this blog might be read by someone in Florida, or Illinois, or New Jersey, for example. If it is, and you were considering giving up trying to get your benefits, I am not suggesting you call me. Go on the internet, or call your State Bar, and find an experienced attorney in your State. The worst thing that happens, is that no one will take your case — but what if they will?

April 29, 2017

Social Security Administration Adopts New Criteria for Evaluating Mental Disorders

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

In addition to dealing with short term disability benefits, long term disability benefits, and health insurance denials, many of our clients are also tasked with applying for Social Security Disability benefits. On January 17, 2017, the Social Security Administration adopted new rules for evaluating mental disorders. These rules reflect the most comprehensive revision in over 30 years to the criteria used to evaluate disability claims involving mental disorders. Changes to the rules reflect up-to-date standards and practices used in the mental health community. Most notably, the new rules reflect information from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (“DSM -5”), which is the mental health profession’s standard for classifying mental disorders. The new rules also reflect comments from members of the public and the expertise of disability policy experts, adjudicators, psychiatric professionals, and vocational experts.

Among the many changes are three new listings: 12.11 Neurodevelopmental disorders, 12.13 Eating Disorders, and 12.15 Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders. Additionally, the titles of the listings have been updated to reflect the terms the American Psychological Association uses to describe the categories of mental disorders in the DSM-5.

This table shows the old and new listing numbers and titles:

OLD		NEW
12.02	Organic mental disorders	12.02	Neurocognitive disorders
12.03	Schizophrenic, paranoid and other psychotic disorders	12.03	Schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders
12.04	Affective disorders	12.04	Depressive, bipolar and related disorders
12.05	Intellectual disability	12.05	Intellectual disorder
12.06	Anxiety-related disorders	12.06	Anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders
12.07	Somatoform disorders	12.07	Somatic symptom and related disorders
12.08	Personality disorders	12.08	Personality and impulse-control disorders
12.09	Substance addiction disorders	12.09	Reserved
12.10	Autistic disorder and other pervasive developmental disorders	12.10	Autism spectrum disorder
		12.11	Neurodevelopmental disorders
		12.12	Reserved
		12.13	Eating disorders
		12.15	Trauma- and stressor-related disorders

Under the new rules, these new mental health listings will remain in effect for five years. To read the full text of Social Security’s Mental Disorder Listings, click here https://www.ssa.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/12.00-MentalDisorders-Adult.htm#12_04 .

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March 22, 2017

The Transition from Short Term Disability (STD) to Long Term Disability (LTD) Benefits

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

Disability benefit plans are often structured to provide two different types of benefits. The first is for short term disability or often just refered to as STD, which typically provides benefits for the first 3-12 months of disability. After the conclusion of short term disability benefits, the claim is then transitioned for approval of long term disability benefits, also referred to as simply LTD. Often, the same insurer administers both the short and long term plan and the definition for eligibility of benefits is identical. However, many of our clients find that after the expiration of short term benefits, they do not continue to receive benefits and have to go through the approval process all over again to receive approval for their long term disability claim!

Unfortunately, this is a normal course of events. We find that even though a client has been approved as disabled under a short term disability plan, insurance carriers treat the long term claim as a new claim and require a new submission of new proof. One of the reasons we suspect that this transition is not “seamless,” (as may be promised) is that the employer funds short term benefits out of its own account, and for the benefit of its employees, whereas long term disability is funded with an insurance policy where the insurer is on the hook to pay benefits. Ordinarily, insurers have no allegiance to employees. Therefore, even though the definitions of disability are the same under the short and long term plan, it is more difficult to be approved for long term disability benefits.

As a result, when the claim is transferred to the long term disability unit, the insurance company may require new and additional attending physician and employer statements, updated medical records and claimant completed statements before it will evaluate the claim. This can cause a delay in long term disability benefits and even a denial of the claim, despite the fact that the same insurance company approved the disability claim just weeks before!