Insurance denial

January 31, 2020

What ERISA Rights Do I Have After I Appeal My Denied Long-term Disability Claim?

Over the past 15 years, I have represented hundreds of claimants in their claims for disability benefits governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, also known as ERISA. If an ERISA disability claim is denied, a claimant must appeal that denial to the plan administrator or insurance company before he or she is able to file a lawsuit. The appeals process is referred to as exhausting administrative remedies (though there is no administrative agency involved). The ERISA Regulations provide rules that an administrator must follow in order to give a claimant a “full and fair review.” See ERISA § 503; 29 CFR § 2560.503-1 (Claims procedure).

Effective April 1, 2018, the ERISA Regulations were changed to require that an insurance company or administrator provide to the claimant copies of new evidence it obtains after a claimant submits an appeal so that the claimant has an opportunity to respond to the new evidence before the insurance company issues a final claim decision. Some insurance companies, however, refuse to provide this evidence to claimants who filed their disability claims before April 1, 2018.

What if you fall into this pre-April 1, 2018 category? Do you have any rights to know what the insurance company is relying on before it issues a final decision on your appeal?

January 22, 2020

Five Attorneys from Kantor & Kantor, LLP Have Been Selected to the 2020 Southern California Super Lawyers List

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

Kantor & Kantor, LLP, one of the most experienced law firms in the nation dealing with litigating insurance claims against insurance companies, is proud that once again five Partners have been selected to the 2020 Southern California Super Lawyers list. Co-Founders Lisa Kantor and Glenn Kantor are joined by Senior Partners Alan Kassan and Corinne Chandler, and Partner Brent Dorian Brehm makes his fourth consecutive appearance.

No more than five percent of the lawyers in Southern California are selected by Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys.

The Super Lawyers lists are published nationwide in Super Lawyers Magazines and in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers across the country. Super Lawyers Magazines also feature editorial profiles of attorneys who embody excellence in their practice of law. For more information about Super Lawyers, go to SuperLawyers.com.

June 6, 2019

The Importance of Being Timely

by Beth A. Davis

Missing a deadline in your ERISA claim is deadly to your claim.

Accordingly, it is extremely important that any and all deadlines are met. One deadline of particular importance is the 180-day deadline by which to submit an appeal of a denial of benefits covered by ERISA. The federal regulations that govern ERISA require insurance companies to allow claimants 180 days to submit an appeal of a denial of benefits. While the regulations state that the claimant is to be allowed 180 days from the date of receipt of the denial, the safest course of action is to calculate the deadline from the date of the letter denying the benefits. This is one of many good reasons to come to Kantor & Kantor with your claim.

Six Months Will Fly By

May 2, 2019

May is Mental Health Awareness Month – You Can Start a #RealConvo

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

As part of Mental Health Awareness Month 2019, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (“AFSP”) has launched a public awareness campaign called #RealConvo. The goal of the campaign is to inspire people to

shares their stories;
have conversations about mental health; and

April 16, 2019

May is Lupus Awareness Month

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body). Chronic means that the signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years.

In lupus, something goes wrong with your immune system, which is the part of the body that fights off viruses, bacteria, and germs (“foreign invaders,” like the flu). Normally our immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from these invaders. Autoimmune means your immune system cannot tell the difference between these foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues (“auto” means “self”) and creates autoantibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These autoantibodies cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body.

Lupus is also a disease of flares (the symptoms worsen and you feel ill) and remissions (the symptoms improve and you feel better).

March 12, 2019

The Trump Administration Wants to see Your Facebook to Show You are Not Disabled.

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

On March 10, 2019, the New York Times reported the Trump administration has been working on a proposal to use social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to help identify people who claim disability benefits without actually being disabled. The example the Times gave was if a person claimed disability benefits due to a back injury but was shown playing golf in a photograph posted on Facebook, that social medial post could be used as evidence that the injury was not disabling.

While the Trump administration’s concern is related to Social Security disability benefits, in the private long-term disability world it has long been known that the likes of Unum, MetLife, Aetna, Hartford, or Mutual of Omaha have a keen interest in the social media of disability claimants. This is based on the belief that social media is a goldmine of information about people applying for or receiving long term disability benefits.

It is not impossible for this to be true. But as with many things related to long term disability insurance, the topic has layers. Social media is often an outlet for the disabled. A place where a person unable to work goes to socialize and post pictures of themselves in better times or when they are having a good day (not a bad day). Sure, some of our client’s use social media to share with the world their struggles with MS, or back pain, or fibromyalgia, or lupus, but it’s the exception.

March 11, 2019

Dealing with Insurance Companies: Managing a Disability Claim on Your Own

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

While we certainly do not recommend it, you may choose to handle your own short term disability or long term disability claim. A side note: we strongly recommend you do not handle an STD or an LTD appeal without legal representation.

If you decide to make a disability claim on your own, there are a few things you should keep in mind when dealing with an insurance company: (1) insurance companies are for-profit businesses with an eye on profits; (2) everything you provide to them during your claim goes into your claim file; and (3) you cannot rely on an insurance company to obtain documentation to support your claim.

Why are these things so important?

February 27, 2019

Nothing Ever Happens “Always”, aka The Dangers of Speaking in Absolutes About Your Medical Conditions and Symptoms

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

Long before I became a lawyer, all the way back in childhood, I hated when people spoke in absolutes. For those who don’t know, speaking in absolutes is using all or nothing terms like: always/never; best/worst; everybody/nobody; can’t; nothing/everything; all the time; all/nothing; constantly; definitely; etc. I dislike absolutes because while on the surface they appear to make a message stronger (“this always happens to me” or “my mom’s cooking is the best”), they actually do the opposite by weakening your credibility.

Does anything happen “always”?

Think about it. Does anything happen “always”? Can you definitively say there’s no one on the planet who cooks better than your mom? Of course not! But in addition to saying something that you can’t prove, you have also opened yourself up to allow people to be able to prove – very easily I might add – that you are a liar. And once they can prove you lied about that one thing, they can then turn around and use that lie to cast doubt on everything else you say.

March 3, 2017

If you have insurance, you need to know about the “notice-prejudice” rule!

by Kantor & Kantor LLP

Every insurance policy requires that you give notice of your claim for benefits to the company before benefits can be paid. It doesn’t matter if the claim is for medical services, disability benefits, life insurance, fire, flood, theft, etc. Obviously, notice and information about your claim is necessary before the insurance conpany can process and pay the claim. Policies also usually require that notice of a claim be given within a specified time period following the loss, for example, “30 days,” or “as soon as practicable,” or “as soon as reasonably possible,” etc. Again, this is fair because evidence related to the claim is fresh, and most readily available nearer the time of the event.

But, what happens if you can’t, or don’t comply with the policy notice requirement? What happens if don’t give notice until months, or even years after your claim accrued?

Good questions.