Short & Long Term Disability Cases We’ve Won for Our Clients in Arizona

An airline operations supervisor began having serious knee pain after an unsuccessful meniscus surgery. Walking was very difficult, and doctors told him he may eventually need to have knee replacement surgery. His job required walking between 24 gates at the airport to supervise employees, so he was forced to take a lower paying job that did not strain his knee as much. He received Long Term Disability benefits from his insurer while they were evaluating his claim, but after a few months they stopped paying.

Disappointed in this decision to stop paying his benefits, and worried about his lost income, he called Fields Law for help. The attorneys at Fields Law studied documentation from New York Life and discovered they were not using an accurate description of our client’s job. Fields Law attorneys filed a strong appeal and kept our client informed every step of the way. Ultimately, our client was granted continued benefits and issued a lump-sum payment for back-pay.

A flight attendant from Arizona had been HIV-positive since 1992.  As a result of the diagnosis and the rigorous medication regimen he required, he suffered from chronic fatigue, neuropathy, Reynaud’s, and cognitive dysfunction. He also suffered from chronic back pain due to degenerative disc disease. After 26 years of receiving Long Term Disability benefits, his claim was denied by The Hartford who asserted he had the functional capacity to perform occupations they had identified. Unsure of how to dispute the decision, he found the attorneys at Fields Disability.

After reviewing medical records from the insurer and obtaining updated medical records, our attorneys submitted a winning appeal.  The Hartford reversed their decision and reinstated the payment of monthly benefits.

A customer service agent who was suffering from an immunity virus, chronic low back pain, and coronary artery disease was abruptly cut off from his disability benefits based on the insurance company’s selective and partial review of his medical and vocational records. In support of the discontinuation, Reliance Standard stated that the claimant should be capable of frequent and continuous sitting and frequent standing and walking. Reliance Standard relied on the opinion of a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist who reviewed the employee’s file and stated that he was able to perform sedentary work.

The disabled worker called Fields Law because he knew that Reliance Standard had made a mistake. Our team prepared a winning appeal for our client that exposed the inadequacy of the insurance company’s review. In preparing the appeal, we gathered reports from our client’s treating doctors and highlighted parts of his medical records to show that he remained entirely disabled from not just his own, but any occupation. We forced Reliance Standard to admit its mistake, reinstate our client’s Long Term Disability benefits and award him back pay for lost benefits.