Short & Long Term Disability Cases We’ve Won for Our Clients in Minnesota
Fields Law Firm successfully recovers millions of dollars each year for our disabled clients throughout the United States. Our Long Term Disability experience is matched by very few other law firms in the country and has earned us a national reputation.
Here are just a few examples of our Long Term Disability appeal and lawsuit case wins in Minnesota.
Christopher – Engineering Technician – St. Croix Falls, Minnesota
Degenerative Disc Disease, Fibromyalgia, Crohns Disease
An insurance company discontinued Long Term Disability benefits of a long time public service employee and military veteran without notifying him. He never received a call or a denial letter from the insurer. He was totally blindsided and had no idea how they could possibly think he was able to work.
Fields Law helped secure the claim file, searched for justification regarding the discontinued benefits, and appealed the decision. Our attorneys requested a comprehensive report from the claimant’s treating doctor outlining the many reasons why full-time work was not an option for our client. The insurer re-instated benefits and awarded our client with all the back pay he was entitled to under the policy.
Issac – Business Systems Analyst – St. Anthony, Minnesota
Chronic Fatique, IBS, Rhabdomyolysis
A Business Systems Analyst was forced to resign from his job due to rhabdomyolysis – a serious disease that leads to breakdown of muscle tissue and kidney damage. His symptoms resulted in a complete inability to keep up with the heavy intellectual demands of his job. The Standard denied benefits outright, stating there was insufficient medical evidence to show he was unable to perform his own occupation.
Indecisive about whether he would hire a lawyer to assist with his appeal, he contacted Fields Law Firm with just over a month left to file his appeal. The Fields Law attorneys quickly gathered medical evidence from our client’s doctors and requested detailed reports responding to The Standard’s claims. The medical evidence and reports were attached to a legal memorandum citing federal law that supported the case. The Standard reversed its decision and paid our client his benefits, enabling him to bring his mortgage up to date and keep his truck from being repossessed.
Beverly – Packager – Middle River, Minnesota
Chronic Back Pain
A packager in a factory worked for many years until she became disabled due to chronic back pain. Initially, the insurance company began paying her Long Term Disability benefits. However, Liberty Mutual later denied her benefits after 32 months, alleging that her medical records did not continue to support severe and incapacitating symptoms that would warrant work in any capacity beyond that date.
Frustrated and confused because she knew she could not return to work in her condition, she called Fields Law Firm for help in appealing the insurance company’s discontinuation of her benefits. The Fields Law team prepared a strong appeal letter for our client, in which we exposed the fact that Liberty Mutual had applied the wrong standard of disability in discontinuing her benefits. Our client’s policy provided for payment of disability based on an inability to perform the duties of her “own occupation” for 36 months. At the time of its discontinuation, our client did not need to prove she was unable to work “in any capacity” in order to remain eligible for benefits.
The appeal prepared by Fields Law showed that Liberty Mutual had breached its fiduciary duty to our client by misusing video surveillance. The appeal also highlighted why the insurance company should not have ignored the Social Security Administration’s finding that our client is totally disabled from any job in the national economy. In the end, Fields Law was successful in appealing Liberty Mutual’s decision and our client’s benefits were reinstated.
