After being hit in the head with a hockey puck at a hockey game, a Chief Accounting Officer (CAO) from Arlington Heights, Illinois was rendered permanently disabled. Even as her post-concussive symptoms worsened, Liberty decided to terminate her long term disability benefits early, citing the fact that she tries to do yoga and run errands as a drastic medical improvement. Attorney Edward Dabdoub challenged their decision head-on and succeeded.
Details of the Hockey Puck Concussion Case
Our client visited a hockey game that forever changed her life. After being hit in the head by a stray hockey puck, she began to suffer severe symptoms of a concussion. Notably, one day after the injury, she was still feeling extremely nauseous and fatigued. The symptoms would expand later in the year to include migraines, dizziness, and tinnitus, sensitivity to light and sound, as well as general cognitive impairment. All in all, her medical conditions rendered her disabled and unable to continue her work as a CAO, which earned her $380,000 annually.
She loved her job and tried her best to keep working full-time, but her employer and her doctors urged her to stop and seek disability benefits that would allow her to rest. Indeed, her company and her doctors kept clear records of how her disability was interfering with her work, and this information was forwarded to Liberty. The insurer recognized the severity of her situation in that it granted her two full years of disability benefits.
Yet, on the 24th month, Liberty terminated her benefits early, as the policy coverage changed from “own occupation” to “any occupation.” In effect, as it has been seen in other cases with this insurance company, Liberty had deemed that our client could somehow return to work in any occupation, despite there being no record of a medical improvement. Instead, Liberty relied on an erroneous evaluation from their own hired medical examiner, and it was wrongfully concluded that her ability to occasionally run errands or practice yoga was the same as an ability to continue gainful employment. The company also alluded to her intentionally trying to collect disability payments, despite her receiving not even one-third the income she earned while working.
With a multipage challenge authored by Lead Attorney Edward Dabdoub, our law firm was ready to take the fight to Liberty, no matter how far we had to go. Although, we are thankful that the company was convinced not to continue down its decision to terminate the benefits and instead reinstated them, with backdate coverage as deserved.
Our Disability Lawyers Can Help You
As a law firm focused only on helping people get disability benefits from insurance companies, Dabdoub Law Firm has recovered millions of dollars in disability benefits for our clients across the country. Our disability insurance lawyers have challenged every major insurance company when they have denied long-term disability benefits to our clients. Every lawyer focuses on disability insurance claims, appeals, and lawsuits.
With so much at stake, shouldn’t you have experienced disability lawyers on your side? Because federal law applies to most disability insurance claims, your disability lawyer does not have to be located in your state to help.
Call (800) 969-0488 to speak with a disability insurance lawyer today.
Because each client’s case is unique and has different facts, results similar to those in other clients’ cases are not guaranteed.
