Category Archives: Disability Claim Denials
Provident Life Demands Disabled Dentist Submit to Surgery
Under California law, a disabled dentist who is receiving disability benefits may be required to undergo curative surgery in order to remain eligible for disability benefits. This was held in Provident Life and Accident Ins. Co. v. Van Gemert. In … Continue reading
Unum Creates Ambiguities to Escape Bad Faith Liability
In California, “[t]he key to a bad faith claim is whether or not the insurer’s denial of coverage was reasonable,” which ordinarily is question of fact for the jury. Guebara v. Allstate Ins. Co., 237 F.3d 987, 992 (9th Cir. … Continue reading
Northwestern Mutual Denies Dentist Disability Benefits
Under California law, a disabled dentist’s return to work does not necessarily preclude recovery on his disability insurance benefits. This was held in Zambito v. Northwestern Mut. Life Ins. Co. In Zambito, a dentist suffering from mental illness filed suit … Continue reading
California Assesses Punitive Damages for Disability Insurer’s Despicable Conduct
In our last blog post, we discussed when, under Arizona law, punitive damages may be assessed against a disability insurance company that is guilty of insurance bad faith. In this blog post, we examine how the same issue is analyzed … Continue reading
Disability Insurer’s Evil Hand Guided by an Evil Mind
In some disability insurance cases, punitive damages are assessed against the disability insurer when it violates the covenant of good faith and fair dealing with the insured. In Arizona, a court may award punitive damages as punishment against a wrongdoer … Continue reading
The 10 Biggest Legal Mistakes Dentists Make When Filing a Disability Claim (Mistake #8)
Next in the series of The 10 Biggest Legal Mistakes Dentists Make When Filing a Claim for Disability, adapted from a publication written by disability attorney Ed Comitz’s, published by SEAK, Inc., 2005, is Mistake #8: MISTAKE NO. 8: Ignoring the Possibility … Continue reading
The Ethical Component in Knowing When It’s Time to File a Disability Claim
The dentist considering a disability insurance claim is faced with a difficult decision: is it really time to look after his own health, or should he just keep working through the pain? An article by Richard Gunderman, a Professor at Indiana University’s … Continue reading
The 10 Biggest Legal Mistakes Dentists Make When Filing a Disability Claim (Mistake #9)
Continuing with the countdown of The 10 Biggest Legal Mistakes Dentists Make When Filing a Claim for Disability: MISTAKE NO. 9: Blindly Accepting that Subjectively Diagnosed Conditions Are Not Covered Disability insurers often deny benefits by insisting that the insured’s subjective symptoms … Continue reading
The 10 Biggest Legal Mistakes Dentists Make When Filing a Disability Claim (Mistake #10)
In this series of posts, we will be counting down the The 10 Biggest Mistakes Dentists Make When Filing a Claim for Disability, adapted from an article written by disability insurance attorney Ed Comitz and published by SEAK, Inc., 2005. MISTAKE … Continue reading
How To File A Disability Insurance Claim
Disability insurance lawyer Edward O. Comitz, head of the healthcare and disability insurance practice group at Comitz | Beethe, has recently posted an interesting and informative article, How To File A Disability Insurance Claim. Mr. Comitz discusses the sophisticated techniques … Continue reading