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

In New Jersey, a music teacher was taken out of work by her physicians due to Lupus, chronic migraines, and neuropathy. These conditions caused her to be off balance, requiring a cane for walking, fogginess in her cognitive ability, chronic pain, and fatigue. As a K-5 music teacher, these conditions made working next to impossible. Her Long Term Disability insurance provider thought otherwise, denying her benefits because her medical records did not provide substantial evidence to support total disability from her occupation. She thought this was odd considering her treating physician had supported her in being disabled from any occupation. She decided to reach out to the Fields Law Team for assistance.

Our team also thought the denial of benefits here was odd, so we started the appeals process. Our attorneys drafted the first appeal using all medical records and physicians’ reports who supported our client’s disability. Prudential, however, upheld its denial because she did not meet the continued period of time necessary to receive benefits. Our attorneys did not give up on our client, and drafted another appeal that documented disabling medical evidence during the period of time Prudential deemed our client not disabled. They finally approved benefits for our client, who was thankful that the Fields Law team never gave up on her and will continue to support her throughout her entire disability claim.

A Customer Service Clerk in New Jersey developed multiple herniations to her Lumbar, Thoracic, and Cervical spine. These disc herniations caused shooting pain and numbness down one of her shoulders, into the arm, and down her back, into her legs. Her treating doctor advised she stop working, so she applied for Long Term Disability through her employer’s plan. CIGNA denied the claim after its in-house doctors reviewed her medical records. They told her that their doctors had determined her conditions were not severe enough to support limitations and restrictions, so from their point of view she could work full time.

Fields Law successfully argued that CIGNA’s doctors selectively cited and ignored critical information from the medical records, and that our client’s treating physician was in the best position to assess her conditions. Consequently, CIGNA overturned its decision, paid our client her back pay, and commenced monthly benefit payments.

A Senior Finance Manager from New Jersey found out she was no longer able to work due to anxiety, depression, lupus, heart conditions, back conditions, fatigue, and migraines. The employer provided both Short Term and Long Term Disability policies, which she elected to receive coverage under both policies. She was initially approved for Short Term Disabillity benefits and received weekly pay for almost five months.

However, the insurer terminated her Short Term Disability benefits because they concluded that she did not meet the Definition of Disabled any longer. Lincoln Financail also denied her application for Long Term Disability benefits for the same reason. Upset with the illogical decision to terminate Short Term benefits, and outright deny Long Term Disability benefits, she contacted Fields Law Firm to submit an appeal of both adverse decisions.

The attorneys at Fields Law pulled together all of our client’s medical records and generated reports. We sent our client to a neurophysiological functional capacity evaluation, which generated a report of cognitive functional abilities. Equipped with a comprehensive appeal and substantial favorable medical records, the attorneys at Fields Law submitted an appeal. Lincoln Financial issued a new decision and overturned its prior termination of Short Term Disability benefits, and its prior denial of Long Term Disability benefits. Lincoln Financial proceeded to issue a backpay check for the months that it failed to pay our client previously on both the Short Term Disability and Long Term Dissability policies.