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Statute of limitation is the period of time in which an individual must file a suit in court. Failure to file within the specified time may result in being forever barred from pursuing their claim. Unfortunately Congress did not specify a statute of limitation in the ERISA statute. Although ERISA is governed by Federal law, the courts have uniformly allowed the use of the most analogous state statute of limitation, unless plan documents specify a shorter period of time. While I have seen statute of limitation as short as 1 year, there is a 1998 case where a Florida court held that a 90 day statute of limitation from the date of the plan’s final review of the claim was…Read More

Unfortunately, you may need to get another doctor, or at the very least a second opinion. Your physician plays a vital role in your disability claim. Not only must his records provide objective evidence of your illness and impairment, he must also be willing to cooperate with the insurance carriers by completing forms and participating in telephone conferences. Therefore, if you are considering leaving your job to file a claim for disability insurance benefits, you should make certain that your doctor fully understands why you believe you cannot perform your occupation. If your doctor still refuses to cooperate, consider obtaining a second opinion.Read More

Recently, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that prohibits health insurers from giving bonuses to employees for canceling or limiting a patient’s coverage. Apparently this law was in response to reports that insurers had rewarded employees who canceled coverage retroactively to avoid paying for costly health services. Read more here. Some things should not need a law, just common decency. Sadly, as long as Corporate America continues to put profits over people, we will need our government to step in to protect the most vulnerable among us: the sick and disabled. It is time for all states to get involved and put an end to this type of shenanigans.Read More

According to the FDA, a recent report from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) warns about the dangers of misprescribing fentanyl transdermal patches, such as Duragesic. Recommendations to help avoid tragic and preventable errors includes: Sometimes patients and family members do not understand that heat can increase absorption of the drug to dangerous levels. So patients should be told to avoid heating pads, electric blankets or hot baths while the patch is in place, and let their doctors know if they develop a temperature above 102 degrees. There have also been cases where children found used patches in the trash and applied them to their own bodies, and died as a result. And so patients should be warned to…Read More

Oct. 23, 2008 Florida Supreme Court Affirms Injured Worker’s Rights Attorneys to Receive “Reasonable Fees” in Workers’ Compensation Cases Today, Thursday, October 23, in Emma Murray v. Mariner Health (Case No. SC07-244), the Florida Supreme Court addressed the issue of attorney’s fees payable by the employer/carrier to the claimant’s counsel in a Workers’ Compensation matter and concluded that in this circumstance the claimant is entitled to recover a “reasonable” attorney’s fee. The decision involved the interpretation of a statutory provision (§440.34, Fla. Stat.) that had been altered as part of the drastic changes to the Workers’ Compensation law enacted by the legislature in 2003. The Court reached its conclusion by applying rules of statutory construction to what it found to…Read More

By Claudeth Henry, R.N. J.D. In what was surely the most widely anticipated workers’ compensation case in several years, the Florida Supreme Court in Emma Murray v. Mariner, a 5-0 ruling, invalidated the 2003 amendment (PDF) to §440.34. That amendment attempted to limit carrier paid claimant’s attorney’s fees to a strict percentage of the benefits secured. Declining to address the constitutional challenges, the court concluded that the statute was ambiguous. The ambiguity arose between subsection (1) which forbade the JCC from awarding attorney’s fees in any amount other than a percentage of the benefits secured by the attorney, and subsection (3) which requires the JCC to award “a reasonable attorney’s fee,” but setting no criteria for how to determine a…Read More

For the past several years, injured workers in the state of Florida have found it difficult to obtain competent legal representation in their worker’s compensation case because of the 2003 amendments to the Florida worker’s compensation statutes limiting carrier paid fees to claimant’s attorneys who successfully secured benefits on the claimant’s behalf. In Murray v. Mariner Health (PDF), a case challenging the statute, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the statue was ambiguous and that the fee compensating the attorney at $8.11 per hour for securing benefits was unreasonable. It didn’t take long for certain industry to attack the ruling. The following day Associated Industries of Florida, one of the largest insurance industries in the state of Florida, criticized the…Read More

Do you ever wonder what would happen if an injury or illness wiped out all of your savings?  You may say “I have disability insurance for that”.  That’s a good start, but what if they don’t pay?  Then what?  Do you have a back up plan?  Waiting to find out could cost you everything you own. If you have already purchased a disability policy, here is some of what you should look for: How long is your elimination period? The elimination period is the amount of time you must remain disabled before the insurance company will begin paying you.  For most long term disability, the elimination period is 180 days.  That means you will need at least enough money to…Read More

...received the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles award from the National Business Group on Health this month. Perhaps the message is “We’ll treat you well…….as long as you are well”. www.lawyersandsettlements.comRead More

Check out “Insurance Company Rules” - a collaboration between Health Care For America Now (HCAN) and Public Service Administration (PSA).Read More