Posted in Bad Faith Insurance
An unexpected illness or injury can befall anyone. Whether you are a physician, osteopath, attorney, architect, scientist, accountant, a manager, supervisor or other employee of a city, county or state, a construction worker, restaurant manager, hotel clerk or you pursue any other type of occupation, you may one day find yourself to be disabled.
Your disability insurance company promised you in its glossy advertising and in the insurance policy itself that it will be there in the event of a life-altering illness or injury. It promised that, in exchange for premiums, it will be your lifeline — that it will meet its obligations and enable you to continue to support yourself and your family in a most difficult time. All too often, however, the insurance company’s promises are no more than empty words on a page.
Both “total disabilities” and “partial disabilities” can have a devastating effect on you and your family’s well-being. You need not accept your insurance company’s bad faith denial because juries often will not.
You can fight your insurance company’s bad faith behavior and unsupportable denial. You can take on your insurance company and win.
HONEST, HARD-WORKING PEOPLE ARE DENIED THEIR DISABILITY BENEFITS EVERY DAY
Many people apply for disability insurance benefits as an absolute last resort. In fact, most honest, hard-working people struggle mightily to continue working despite severe pain and many other obstacles before reluctantly leaving work.
Many claimants are astonished when their insurer summarily denies their disability claim — and denies it without performing a good faith review, without speaking with the treating doctor or by rejecting the well founded, informed opinions of the treating doctor in favor of its own biased, ill-informed and unethical “experts.” Many claimants are disbelieving when the insurer seizes upon ambiguous or irrelevant entries in the medical records to support its denial while disregarding overwhelming evidence in support of the claim.
Because disability insurers are usually serving their own economic self-interest by not paying claims, they typically advise people who become disabled that their claim is “not supported,” that they can perform “sedentary work,” that their symptoms are “out of proportion” to the “objective findings” or that there is no proven “abnormality on exam.”
Courts provide an invaluable forum in which to confront insurance bad faith and obtain an order requiring the payment of benefits and other appropriate damages.
DISABILITY INSURANCE CLAIMS IN CALIFORNIA
At The Law Office of Bennett M. Cohen, P.C. we advocate for individuals — never for insurance companies. Many people don’t realize that obtaining the representation of an experienced San Francisco, CA insurance lawyer is a crucial first step recovering their rightfully owed disability benefits. At our firm, we take the stress of dealing with your insurance company off of you so you can focus on your physical and mental well-being. Let us use our skills, resources and zealous advocacy to obtain for you the full benefits that you deserve.
Attorney Bennett M. Cohen has significant experience handling a broad range of claims involving:
- Denied claims subject to ERISA, a federal law
- Denied claims subject to California law
- Disabling conditions
- Partial or short-term disability claims
- Long-term disability claims
Please see the article written by Bennett M. Cohen in Consumer Attorneys of California’s FORUM magazine — explaining how a claim that appears to be governed by ERISA (the harsh federal law governing group disability claims) may actually be governed by the far more fair California law which permits recovery for bad faith. Please also view our testimonials section.
SERVING THE BAY AREA AND CALIFORNIA – THE LAW OFFICE OF BENNETT M. COHEN
Contact our firm to schedule your free initial consultation, by sending an email, or by completing the inquiry fields on our website. Our office is located in San Francisco and we handle cases throughout the state of California.
