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

A cable installer from Michigan was hit head-on in his work truck and sustained shoulder and neck injuries. He took time off work and went back to school to get certified as an electrician. His shoulder and neck issues flared up again due to repetitive work activity and he was forced to stop working. His insurer constantly hassled him for additional documentation and took him off benefits twice saying he had not sufficiently proven his disability.

After an unsuccessful appeal of his insurer’s decision to stop paying, he called Fields Law for help. Our team gathered all of our client’s medical records. Our attorneys reviewed the medical records and the notes from the insurer and found that our client had been wrongfully denied benefits. We filed a lawsuit in federal court to fight for our client’s rights. During preparation for a hearing, the Fields Law attorneys negotiated a generous lump-sum settlement. Our client was happy to be through fighting the insurance company.

An admission clerk from Michigan was suffering from fibromyalgia and chronic back pain. She was taken off work by her treating doctors and she applied for Long Term Disability benefits through her employer’s disability plan. The insurance company denied her claim alleging our client’s occupation required only minimal lifting and the ability to sit most of the day with occasional standing.

After being denied, she turned to Fields Law Firm for help. We filed an appeal on her behalf pointing out that the insurer has improperly rated our client’s occupation as sedentary when it required a greater physical functional ability, and that the insurer had failed to properly consider and credit the opinions of the treating doctors. The insurer refused to change its position and we filed a lawsuit on our client’s behalf. After initiating the lawsuit, our team was able to negotiate a settlement resolving this claim without our client having to go to court.

Not long after getting his dream job as the director of information technology with a large international business, the IT Specialist was involved in a car-on-motorcycle collision, which resulted in him striking his helmeted head on the road pavement at freeway speed. Miraculously he spent only a brief period in the hospital and then was released. When he returned to work, however, he began experiencing excruciating headaches and cognitive issues.

He kept his difficulties to himself and continued to do his job. Eventually, however, other employees noticed that he was slurring his speech and could not track information and numbers. Shortly thereafter his employers told him he would need to take leave to care for his medical needs.

He applied for disability and, despite the medical support from his doctors, the disability carrier denied his benefits. Prudential reasoned that because he had worked for several months without making complaints to anyone, he wasn’t disabled.

He then hired the Fields Law and our attorneys reached out to medical providers and obtained records, which clearly documented cognitive difficulties and impairment, and filed an appeal. Prudential reviewed the appeal and determined that it would reverse its denial and began making disability payments. Our client earnestly wishes to go back to work but will need some time to work through his cognitive issues and is very appreciative that he now has the money to sustain himself through that period of therapy and healing.