If your long term disability claim has been denied, is under investigation or if you have been cut off from receiving your benefits, contact us for a free consultation.
Insurance companies will try to deny your disability claim by using various tactics in order to avoid paying you the money that you deserve. Know your rights. Contact GK Law Group to discuss your options
When you suffer an injury or have an illness that prevents you from working, long term disability benefits provide you with a certain percentage of your employment income.
Disabilities and illnesses can take many forms. There is not an exhaustive list of injuries or illnesses that will qualify you for disability benefits.
However, if your illness or injury prevents you from performing your job, you will likely qualify for these benefits.
Some of the common illnesses or injuries that qualify individuals to receive long term disability benefits are:
When you are injured or have an illness and you cannot work, you should be able to rely on disability insurance through your work, or from a policy that you privately purchased. However, insurance companies often unfairly deny disability claims.
Have you received a denial letter from your long term disability provider? It can be difficult to know what to do and you may feel powerless. The lawyers at GK Law Group will take this burden away from you and will help you navigate through this difficult and confusing time. With the right disability lawyer, you can fight the denial and get the benefits that are rightfully owed to you.
There are a number of reasons long term disability providers use to deny you your long term disability benefits:
Insurance companies inform you that you have not provided them with enough medical evidence to support your disability. This is a common practice by insurance companies where they send people intimidating letters to try and scare people and have them walk away from their claims. Sometimes you don’t need to get further medical evidence, and we can work with the medical documents that you have. In some cases we get additional doctors and medical professionals involved in order to confirm your disability which can ultimately lead to you winning your case, and the denial being overturned.
Often times insurance companies will pay long term disability benefits for a period of time, and then they will say that you are well enough to return to work. The term total disability is tricky as insurance companies use the word total in order to get you to think that your injury must be catastrophic. This is untrue. Long term disability means you cannot do essential parts of your job, or any job in which you are eligible for based on your education, experience, training etc.
We often see insurance companies hire private investigators to conduct surveillance on disability claimants. This is often done in order to diminish or destroy the claimant’s disability claim. The insurance company might send you a letter outlining what footage they have captured, and this can be daunting. We have worked with clients in the past where we were able to legally justify the surveillance footage the insurance company captured which ultimately undermined their surveillance. If you are being honest with your claim and injuries, you should not worry.
Insurance companies often have doctors that work for them. These doctors are paid privately by the insurance companies. Their role can be to perform an assessment, review medical evidence, and form a medical opinion about your disability. In many cases your own family physician’s medical documents are compared/contrasted to the insurer’s doctor’s records. If you are assessed by the insurer’s doctor, it is likely they will not spend more than a few hours doing their assessment. Their goal is to try and cut you off from receiving benefits. It is quite likely that you have been seeing your family physician for years and there is a history between you and your doctor. We often see the Courts side with a claimant’s family physician over a privately paid doctor hired by the insurance company. As long as you are being honest about your injuries and it can be justified by your doctor, you should be successful with your case.
If you have been denied long term disability benefits, you will have received a denial letter from your long term disability provider. If you had been receiving long term disability benefits but have been cut off, you will receive a termination letter from your disability provider telling you they are no longer going to be paying you your long term disability benefits. Both of these denials can be appealed. The date on the letter you receive is very important. This date will determine the time limits you will have to meet, if you choose to file an appeal.
Long term disability providers almost always invite you to appeal their decision. We recommend against this as the appeal process in almost all cases is done internally by the insurance company. The individual making the decision on your appeal is an employee of the insurance company. It is unlikely that they will treat you fairly or will change their decision to deny you these benefits. The insurance company will also require you to collect documents, medical records and reports, which can be complicated and challenging especially when dealing with a serious injury or illness.
A lawyer can also file a lawsuit on your behalf. If the insurance company continues to deny your long term disability benefits, your case can be heard in front of a judge in the Supreme Court. The judge and not the insurance company, will then decide whether you are entitled to these benefits. If your case is heard before the Court, in addition to receiving the past and future benefits owing to you, you may also receive compensation for the mental and psychological toll the denial would have taken on you as well as punitive and aggravated damages. Punitive and aggravated damages are awarded to punish a wrongdoer (the disability provider) for egregious or oppressive conduct.
The disability lawyers at GK Law Group are well versed in the law and will alleviate the burden of dealing with insurance companies from you. We will review your case for free and will provide you with a complimentary consultation and advice.
There is usually a two year limitation period for appeals. However, the time limits are not always straight forward and can be confusing. You should contact a lawyer as soon as you receive a denial letter from your long term disability provider. If you miss the limitation and fail to appeal your claim within the limitation period, the insurer will no longer have to pay your claim and you will no longer be able to sue them.
The lawyers at GK Law Group do not charge any fees upfront. We will ensure you are treated fairly and you receive the benefits that are owed to you. We offer the lowest legal fees in the Province of B.C. and we don’t get paid unless you do.
