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

A Minnesota woman had worked for a large nationwide bank as a loan documentation specialist, a sedentary position that was clerical in nature. However, she was forced to stop working as a result of her severe anxiety. She had applied for and been granted Short Term Disability benefits from the insurance company. But just three months later, the payments stopped without warning. The insurance company claimed to have had her medical records “peer reviewed” by a physician who had never even met her, and even had the audacity to call the severity of her conditions into question.

She wanted to appeal the insurance company’s decision, but needed professional expertise. She went straight to Fields Law, and our qualified experts analyzed her case and began writing her appeal. Our attorneys argued that the insurer had erred in relying on the opinions of the independent doctor and ignored substantial medical evidence in our client’s claim. Further, we highlighted the records which best demonstrated the severity of our client’s condition. Faced with our arguments, the insurance company returned a decision within a month overturning their previous denial and reinstated our client’s benefits.

Depression rendered a 56-year old woman incapable of performing her job as a Financial Analysis Manager. Her job required a high degree of critical thinking and organizational skills. Her treating psychologist told the insurance provider that she was not capable of performing her job duties, but The Standard ignored the doctor and refused to pay her Short Term Disability benefits.

Unsure of what to do, she turned to Fields Law Firm for help. Our team assembled an appeal in which we argued that our client’s treating doctors’ opinions were more credible than the doctor that The Standard hired who stated that our client was not disabled. In the end, The Standard was forced to overturn their previous denial of benefits and our client received payments dating back several months.

A security counselor worked at a correctional facility before becoming disabled with chronic upper extremity pain, bilateral shoulder pain and right shoulder impingement syndrome, which required surgery. He applied for and received Long Term Disability benefits while he continued to rehabilitate from his surgery. After a few months, the insurance company terminated his benefits, alleging that he was capable of performing all of the substantial physical activity requirements listed in his employer’s job description.

The corrections officer approached Fields Law to represent him in appealing the discontinuation of his benefits. The team at Fields Law worked diligently to review all of the information The Hartford had in its file and supplemented that with updated medical records from our client’s providers. Based on our experience, we knew that The Hartford had possibly glossed over the administrative record and cherry picked evidence to support their denial. We noticed that The Hartford never considered the need to defend oneself and others when intervening with combative inmates. Although rare in terms of frequency on a daily basis, the need to physically intervene when the threat arises is fundamental to the job of a security counselor.

The Fields Law attorneys drafted a strong appeal for our client, highlighting the importance of a security counselor’s ability to physically restrain combative inmates, even if the occurrence is rare. Our attorneys clearly detailed that The Hartford had failed to consider our client’s inability to physically restrain an inmate or defend himself due to his bilateral shoulder impingement, they then reversed the denial and reinstated benefits.