TORONTO INJURY LAWYER BLOG

This edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog is from the mind of our founder and directing lawyer; Brian Goldfinger.

Brian spends a lot of time of the phone speaking with prospective clients; existing clients; insurance adjusters; doctors and opposing lawyers. But most of Brian’s time on the phone is spent answering questions from new and existing clients.

One of the most commonly asked questions of Brian Goldfinger is “how long will make case take to settle?”

Brian hears this question in a variety of cases spanning from catastrophic car accident cases; slip and fall cases; motorcycle accident cases. But it seems like this question is most frequently asked in the context of long term disability cases. I don’t know why this is. It just is (if that makes any sense).

In the context of a long term disability case; keep this in the back of your mind. If your long term disability insurer liked your case; and believed that you had a claim they would have paid you by now and you wouldn’t need a lawyer. This statement is half true. It’s half true because even if you have a meritorious long term disability claim, some insurers will just deny you for the sake of denying you because they would rather keep their money instead of paying you out in the hopes that you never retain a personal injury lawyer to fight your long term disability case. For many long term disability insurers; denying claims only to have them litigated is part of their business model. This is why they have an army of in house lawyers at their disposal. To fight long term disability cases like yours at minimal cost. Farming the long term disability work to outside counsel became too expensive. Long Term Disability insurers found it far more efficient and cost effective to hire and grow their in house legal teams to fight long term disability claims. The in house legal departments at Sun Life Insurance, Desjardins, Manulife and Great West Life have all (from my perspective at least) appear to have grown in size and scope of practice.

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The focus of this Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog Post will be on the denial of Long Term Disability Claims.

Of the hundreds of thousands of Long Term Disability Claims which large insurers like Manulife, Great West Life, Sun Life, Desjardins, SSQ, Industrial Alliance etc. handle, why was YOURS singled out for denial?

You’re a good person.

You’ve worked hard at your job for years without taking much time off like some other co-workers who abuse the system.

You’ve paid LTD premiums for years without complaint or missing a premium payment.

So why me? Why was my claim denied and not the other guy who abused the system?

Why are “good people” always getting the short end of the stick?

I don’t have an answer as to why specifically your Long Term Disability claim was denied in particular; but rest assured; you’re not ALONE!

While it may seem like the vast majority of people you know who applied for long term disability, let me tell you that hundreds of thousands of claims go the other way and get denied.

It’s not uncommon for long term disability claims to get denied at first instance, and approved at a later date; or simply denied altogether.

The important thing is to maintain positive and maintain a level head (as best you can). Easier said than done when bills begin to pile up and the collection calls begin to flood in. But doing something drastic in desperate times is never a good idea.

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