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

A Payroll Supervisor became disabled after developing severe nerve pain all throughout her body. It affected her ability to concentrate and perform her duties throughout the day. After initially paying some disability benefits, her insurer sent a denial letter, stating she could perform desk work and other sedentary duties. The insurance company argued that the woman did not have any severe neurological symptoms that would preclude such duties. The woman was shocked, because her condition had actually been worsening over the past several months.

She retained Fields Law and our attorneys filed an appeal on our client’s behalf. We closely examined the information that the insurer had when it denied benefits and secured detailed reports from two of our client’s treating providers challenging that information. The insurance company reviewed the information in the appeal and determined our client was eligible for benefits.

An Operations Supervisor from Wisconsin was diagnosed with multi-level degenerative disc space narrowing of his lumbar spine, Lyme’s disease, and Type II diabetes. Due to his conditions, he was unable to continue performing his job and taken off of work by his doctors. He was initially awarded Short Term Disability benefits by his insurer. However, after paying Short Term benefits for only two months he received a letter in the mail claiming his medical conditions were not severe enough to prevent him from performing his work duties.

Out of work on doctors’ orders and now being told he would not receive any further disability payments, he immediately reached out to Fields Law to assist in challenging this decision. Our attorneys worked with his doctors to secure narrative reports and medical records supporting his inability to work. Our team also assisted him in navigating the procedural maze of applying for Social Security Disability benefits.

After reviewing all of his insurer’s documentation, our attorneys identified several times where critical medical and vocational evidence was ignored, misstated, or selectively cited. We drafted our appeal challenging the denial of Short Term Disability benefits and successfully convinced his insurance company to reverse its denial. Our client then received a favorable disability ruling from the Social Security Administration and our team is now pursuing his Long Term Disability benefits. Our client was extremely relieved receiving not only his significant back pay owed to him but also in knowing that he would now enjoy on-going monthly benefits.

A man from Wisconsin worked as a Machine Slitter operating heavy machinery for over twenty years. Over the years, he developed degenerative disc disease throughout his lumbar spine, chronic lumbar back pain, and anterolisthesis. He tried to work through his growing pain but finally his doctors took him off work and he applied for Short Term Disability benefits. At first, he was paid his Short Term benefits but as the switch to Long Term benefits approached, his insurer denied the Short Term Disability claim and preemptively denied his Long Term Disability claim.

He quickly reached out to Fields Law for help. Our team reviewed all the documentation used to deny benefits and found that Liberty Mutual had adopted a medical record review by a physician who had never examined the client. This review failed to consider our client’s job duties, and the opinions of his doctors, before finding him not disabled. Our attorneys built an appeal with letters from the treating doctors responding to the medical record review, and federal guidelines detailing our client’s job duties. Moreover, we successfully argued that the medical record review ignored relevant evidence already provided to Liberty Mutual. After reviewing our appeal, Liberty Mutual reversed its decision, paid our client’s remaining Short Term Disability benefit, paid the back pay owed on Long Term Disability, and commenced monthly Long Term Disability benefit payments.