Prudential Takes Months to Acknowledge Migraines, Then Denies Retroactive Benefits
For nearly 25 years, our client worked his way up at CompuCom. When he was working as a service delivery manager in Harrisburg, North Carolina, however, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Despite undergoing 6 different surgeries to remove the tumor and resolve complications, our client was left with severe headaches and migraines.
By October 7, 2019, our client was unable to work and filed a claim for long-term disability benefits. Although Prudential acknowledged its policyholder’s disability on January 10, 2020, the company denied the claim.
Left with medical bills and a year of missed wages, our client turned to Dabdoub Law Firm for help.
Prudential Waits Until Our Client Sees a Neurologist to Acknowledge Disability
Although our client had suffered from severe headaches and migraines since 2016, and was forced to stop working in 2019, Prudential did not acknowledge his disability until the day he began seeing a neurologist, January 10, 2020.
After acknowledging that our client’s migraines were disabling – and that he sought active treatment dating back to September 2019, Prudential denied our client’s claim. Instead of carefully considering our client’s medical records as required under ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974), Prudential fixated on a note that our client was not in any “apparent distress” at the time of doctor visits.
Of course, our client wasn’t distressed during his doctor’s visits – if he had a migraine at the time of the visits, he would have likely been unable to make it and had to reschedule.
Additionally, our client worked with computers, which greatly exacerbated his condition. In July 2020, our client’s primary care physician told him to “continue disability for now.”
Why Prudential’s Denial was Unreasonable
Prudential not only failed to act solely in the interest of its beneficiaries but also disregarded and devalued evidence favoring disability. Even though Prudential acknowledged a well-documented disability, the company all but made up a reason to deny our client’s claim.
Dabdoub Law Firm simply presented the evidence to Prudential a second time and gave the insurance company an opportunity to correct its error and award retroactive benefits.
Fortunately, Prudential complied, and our client recovered a year of well-deserved benefits.
Help from a Lawyer with Expertise in Disability Insurance
Dabdoub Law Firm was built to be a disability insurance law firm.
That focus means:
- All of our lawyers specialize in disability insurance claims.
- We have experience with every major disability insurance company.
- We have won important long-term disability lawsuits.
Our disability lawyers can help you with:
- Submitting a disability insurance claim,
- Appealing a long-term disability denial,
- Negotiating a lump-sum settlement, or
- Filing a lawsuit against your disability insurance company.
Hiring an experienced disability attorney is important. Because federal law applies to most disability insurance claims, our lawyers do not have to be located in your state to help.
Call us at (800) 969-0488 or contact us online for a free consultation with an experienced disability attorney. Pay no fees or costs unless you get paid.
