Court Confirms that Medication Side Effects Can Support a Disability Insurance Claim

When a person suffers from a disability caused by an injury or sickness, the resulting restrictions and limitations, be they physical or mental, can have a devastating impact on that person’s ability to return to work. What is often overlooked, is that the side...

Recent Juror Attitudes Should Frighten Insurance Companies

Recent verdicts from across the nation in disability, life and health insurance policy cases must be alarming for big corporate insurance companies.  The trend is for jurors to award individual plaintiffs astronomical punitive damage verdicts, showing their general...

For ERISA Disability Insurance Appeals, A Claimant Who is a Day Late May Not Be a Dollar Short

Under most long-term disability insurance plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), a claimant must appeal the denial of any claim for benefits within 180 days of the denial letter. Unless the appeal is made within that strict...

“Slimy Conduct That Gives Insurance Companies a Bad Name:” Some Quotes from Judge Alex Kozinski

We do not normally focus on dissents in our blogging but we made an exception here with a published Per Curiam opinion from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Guam Industrial Services, Inc. v. Zurich American Insurance Co., 2015 DJDAR 5948 (9th Cir. June 1, 2015). ...