The Disability Application

Cynthia Cheney is an Arizona attorney who applied for long-term disability benefits through her insurer, United States Life Insurance Company (“U.S. Life”). She had uncontrolled diabetes and other related health conditions, including limitations due to arthritis.

As her medical conditions worsened, she became unable to focus and concentrate on her legal work, including at trials. She became extremely fatigued, and her conditions made her confuse cases and generally become unable to keep up with the extreme demands of being a medical malpractice trial attorney.

The case of Gina Pike v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Company (Hartford) is an example of how hard insurance companies work to deny or terminate claimants’ long term disability (LTD) benefits. Pike received LTD benefits for eight years. Two of those years for which Pike received benefits were for when Hartford agreed she was unable to work in her own occupation.

In Rebecca McCook v. Aetna Life Insurance Company, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida accepted the Report and Recommendation (R & R) of the Magistrate Judge and determined that Plaintiff McCook was not entitled to disability benefits. The Court held that “Although McCook has provided evidence that Aetna could have awarded her long term disability benefits, she has failed to establish that Aetna’s denial was arbitrary and capricious.”

In Linda M. Hines v. Unum Life Insurance Company, Plaintiff was covered under a disability benefit policy through her employer. A provision of that policy was that it did not pay benefits for any disabling condition for which the employee had received medical treatment during the three-month period before the employee became covered under the plan.

In Donald Godmar v. Hewlett-Packard Company Disability Plan, Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc., Plaintiff was employed by Hewlett-Packard (HP) as a customer-project manager when he severely injured his leg in a waterskiing accident. Several major bones were broken, and some ligaments, muscles, and nerves were damaged. He required numerous operations and was prescribed opioids for pain.
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