Credibility Approval

 

We represent a 50 year old former general clerk from Florida with physical and mental impairments seeking Social Security Disability (“SSD”) benefits.  At the claimant’s hearing, the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) noted that the claimant had no medical treatment the past year.  Typically, an ALJ will deny SSD benefits under those circumstances on the assumption that if a claimant stops treating, then it shows they got better.  Alternatively, some ALJs will deny SSD benefits on the grounds that the claimant failed to supply the requisite contemporaneous evidence to support their claims.

We explained to the ALJ that the case law in New York provides that a claimant cannot be penalized for failing to seek medical treatment if they cannot afford it or lack health insurance.  The claimant, who was homeless, credibly testified that both of those circumstances applied in her case.  The ALJ accepted that testimony, and approved the claimant’s SSD application.

Please call me office for a free phone consultation if you are interested in applying for disability.  We have offices located in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.

MS Victory

We represent a 38 year old former pharmacy technician from Ozone Park with multiple sclerosis (“MS”).  We filed her application for Social Security Disability (“SSD”) benefits six years ago.  We continued to fight for SSD benefits at all levels of adjudication.  The first administrative law judge (“ALJ”) on the case was Jay Cohen.  Cohen’s decision denying SSD benefits was so transparently defective that when we appealed to federal court, the attorneys representing Social Security immediately asked us to agree to remand the case.

The good news is that the case was finally approved today by a new ALJ.  The bad news is that it took the claimant six years to get approved.  Moreover, as is typical in cases that last this long, it will take many months for her to get paid.  Having said that, the claimant is grateful that we "stuck with her" and finally got her approved.

If you need assistance applying for disability, or help with a claim that you already filed, please feel free to call my office for a free phone consultation.  We have offices conveniently located in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.

 

 

Cigna Reverses LTD Denial

We were retained by a 59 year old former Director of Engineering from Brooklyn with multiple medical issues, whose long term disability (“LTD”) benefits were terminated by Cigna based on an Insurance Medical Exam (“IME”) by Jeffrey Liva, who makes his living doing IMEs for disability insurance companies.  Cigna paid $6,000 for the Liva IME.  Contrary to the treating doctors, Liva said the claimant could work.

The claimant had an uphill battle because it is virtually unheard of for a disability insurer to reverse a denial after investing thousands of dollars for an IME to say a claimant can work.  We appealed with various diagnostic test reports, and medical and vocational reports, to rebut the Liva opinion, but Cigna failed to respond within 45 days as required under federal law.  Consequently, we sued Cigna, which had the effect of ensuring a favorable standard of judicial review for the claimant.  Today, Cigna finally responded with a letter reversing its decision to terminate the claimant’s LTD benefits.

It took many months to develop the medical and vocational evidence that was submitted on appeal.  Despite the fact that the appeal evidence overwhelmingly demonstrated that the claimant remained unable to work in any full time capacity, it still took actually commencing litigation to obtain the result.

If you are in need of an attorney who specializes in disability claims, please feel free to contact my office for a free phone consultation.  We have offices conveniently located in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.