Independent Medical Exams & Medical Record Reviews
It may seem like a simple process: Your doctor diagnoses you with a condition. The physical restrictions and limitations that are caused by that condition or required to heal and care for it prevent you from doing your job. Your physician then informs the insurance company, which determines that you are disabled and entitled to…Read more
Personal Disability
High-earning and/or self-employed professionals are often either not provided with long-term disability or short-term disability coverage as an employee benefit or not provided sufficient coverage to supplement a period of lost compensation caused by health issues or an injury. To compensate for this deficiency, professionals such as physicians, lawyers and engineers must commonly purchase independent…Read more
ERISA Litigation vs. Breach of Contract
Understanding the Nuances of ERISA Litigation: The Right to Discovery ERISA law establishes two separate causes of action for employees who have run into a denial of employee benefits. However, while ERISA puts forth causes of action, it also creates specific issues that make ERISA litigation distinct from ordinary breach-of-contract cases. While it may seem…Read more
Pension Benefits: Ensuring Your Rights Under ERISA Law
The pension plan is supposed to represent a gold standard of collective bargaining that demonstrates the cooperation between labor unions and their employers to guarantee benefits and a comfortable retirement for the pension members. But does it? For the most part, pension plans provide a reliable source of employee benefits that let beneficiaries easily retire…Read more
Venue Shopping Under ERISA Law
Your long-term or short-term disability benefit claim is denied. You next proceed through more than six months of internal appeals mostly spent waiting for the insurance company to respond. Then you receive it: the letter you’ve been waiting for that will state you have successfully appealed your long-term or short-term disability denial. Cinga, Lincoln, Prudential…Read more
ERISA Law & Denial of Disability Benefits: What You Should Know
Let’s say you have made a claim for long- or short-term disability insurance benefits under your employee plan. Your claim is based on an illness or injury that prevents you from performing your job’s material duties. You have too much pain to function normally, or perhaps fatigue deprives you from going a full eight hours…Read more
Your Employee Benefit Has Been Denied – Now What?
Many employers provide an employee benefits package as part of an employee’s compensation. According to a March 2022 report by the U.S. Department of Labor, benefits account for close to one-third (29.5%) of employers’ compensation costs for private-industry workers. You may think of these benefits only when it’s time for open enrollment. At other moments,…Read more
Missouri Residents- Vote to Retain all Judges
by Tim Gallagher Last week I received my sample ballot in the mail from the St. Louis County Board of Election Commissioners. Of the 23 offices listed on my ballot14 are judges. I am lawyer who has been practicing in St. Louis County since 1988, and evenI don’t have personal knowledge of all the judges who are up for retention…Read more
Is Your Insurance Company Watching You?
Insurance companies subsidize medical devices when they are prescribed for necessary medical treatment. However, it is important to realize that the digital world easily allows the transmission of data from these devices. Patients might expect that they would be asked for consent before personal information and behavior is transmitted to insurers via such a device,…Read more
When Public Structures Cause Injury, Who is to Blame?
What Duty Does a City Owe to Keep Public Structures Safe? Most people would not expect a public structure to be dangerous to the point of injuring a random passerby, but accidents can happen. When a person is suddenly hurt because of problems with a building or structure, who is to blame? Some accidents might…Read more