If you have received a long term disability denial letter, our Burlington Long-Term Disability Lawyers can help get your monthly income benefits back on track – without having to pay any fees upfront. We understand that you can be living a perfectly happy life, only to experience unfortunate events like an accident or the onset of a sudden illness resulting in total disability. Living with physical, mental, and emotional challenges can be difficult.We understand that denial of long-term disability benefits and being left without income can be both frustrating and financially devastating. We can help get your long-term disability benefits back on track. Our Burlington disability lawyers can assisted disability insurance claimants during all stages of a claim for disability insurance benefits. Our Burlington long-term disability law firm has represented disability claimants against every major disability insurance company in Canada. We have earned our reputation Province-wide as aggressive and competent disability insurance lawyers.
Since 2003, Matt Lalande has represented many disabled claimants in Burlington who have been unreasonably denied or cut-off their long term disability benefits. We have litigated against every major disability insurance company in Canada. If your claim has been denied we can assist you through all stages of your claim for denied long-term disability benefits and we will never ask you for upfront fees.
Our Burlington Long-Term Disability Lawyers specialize in representing claimants that have been denied long-term disability benefits. We are disability trial lawyers that have represented hundreds of denied disability claimants and have litigated against every major disability insurance company throughout Canada.
Many people in Ontario are issued long-term disability policies through group benefits at work or via private policies of insurance that are individually purchased. You pay a monthly premium, or contribution to your premiums, in exchange for a piece of mind policy that will protect you and your family in a time of need – only to find out that your disability insurance company seems to be working against you, rather than supporting you.
What happens in this case? What happens if your disability claims adjuster is telling you that, contrary to your doctor’s instructions, that you should be getting ready to go back to work? What happens if you are cut-off your disability benefits while waiting to see your specialist? These are unfortunately occurrence which happen all too often.
If you are denied or cut-off long term disability benefits, our Burlington long-term disability benefit lawyers can help. We have represented disability claimants within a broad range of occupations including engineers, lawyers, insulation installers, contractors, gas fireplace installers, plumbers, dentists, office managers, directors, genetic specialists, film directors, receptionists and IT personal (among some professions) in all facets of denied long-term disability law. If your disability benefits have been denied, you have a civil right to hire a Burlington long-term disability claims lawyer, start a lawsuit and ask a judge to reinstate your monthly benefits. You have a right to pursue legal action as a Canadian Citizen.
Fighting with your disability claims adjuster is not a good idea – particularly because you will never win. Once a decision is made by your Disability insurance company, it will be difficult to change their mind, no matter how much explaining you do. If a breakdown happens between you and the insurance company, it is essential to hire a Burlington disability insurance law firm that has the experience to effectively represent disability insurance claimants against disability insurance companies. If you have a disability insurance claim in either Hamilton or any other city, contact our disability insurance lawyers for a free consultation. We have been representing claimants that have been denied disability who suffer from such disorders (but certainly not limited to):
Being denied long-term disability can be terribly frustrating for claimants who rely on their disability income every month to support themselves or their family. Denied claimants can be left with disastrous financial problems if their long-term disability income is their only source of income —especially if that income contributes to shared family expenses. Unfortunately, insurance companies simply don’t care about your financial position. Your disability insurance carrier is a business and if they do not see that you are disabled according to their exact definitions, they will cut you off long-term disability without hesitation, and place you in a destitute position where a legal claim is your only option.
Most people that collect benefits simply want to try their best to get better and pay their monthly bills to survive. When a claimant is cut off or denied their monthly disability payments, the process can become quite confusing, very quickly. Most people don’t know what to do. When the denial letter arrives in the mail claimants often think that they are left with no options and that the monthly benefit will stop being deposited in their bank accounts forever. The reality is, however, that many claimants suffering from illness or injury are simply not able to get back to any type of gainful work and when benefits are denied or cut-off, claimants don’t know what to do.
Many claimants desperately turn to the internet and try to read about the appeals process and the options that they have – when the reality is that, many times, there is only one option – and that is to start a legal claim against their long term disability carrier and ask a Judge to reinstate their benefits. Fortunately, our Burlington disability lawyers can assist you through the process and handle your lawsuit for reinstatement.
The basic idea behind long-term disability is that your insurance company will pay monthly, predetermined benefits (either fixed or a percentage of your salary) to you, provided that you meet the applicable policy definitions of “total disability.”
Most long-term disability policies in Canada hold that the definition “total disability” is met when you are unable to perform the important duties of your own job within the first two years of your injury or illness, although you may be capable of performing another job. This is what we normally refer to as “own occupation” disability.
After two years, long-term disability (LTD) policies typically switch to a disability definition of “any occupation,” which means that you must be unable to perform the activities of any occupation for which you are reasonably suited by your education, training, and experience. If you are not denied at the application process, most long-term disability carriers will deny long-term disability benefits at the two-year mark, when the policy makes the switch from you not being able to do your own job to not being able to do any job based on your education and work experience.
It is at this point that you would bear the ultimate burden of proof, meaning that you must prove that you are totally disabled and unable to perform any occupation to which you are reasonably suited by means of your education, training, and experience. This is the moment when you may require the services of an experienced long-term disability lawyer in Hamilton.
When you hire a long-term disability claims lawyer, how do you then win your case? Technically, you would need to prove to your insurance company—or, ultimately, a judge—that you satisfy the definition of total disability under your policy.
Our Burlington disability lawyers will fight to see your benefits continue uninterrupted for your maximum period of benefit recovery, which is normally to age sixty-five. In addition to this, our disability lawyers will argue that you should be paid all past disability benefits owed to you up to the date of your settlement or trial.
Lump-sum settlement awards for future benefits are sometimes negotiated during settlement talks but should not be a factor when starting a claim for denied benefits. The insurance company is not obligated to settle with you for a lump sum amount, but it must reinstate you and pay your benefits every month if you’re totally disabled.
If you suffer from a psychiatric or physical clinical disability that renders you unable to perform the substantial and material duties of any occupation for which you have education, training, and experience, then it is vital that you contact a disability lawyer and inform yourself of your legal rights.
Taking on a disability insurer in Ontario is not for the faint of heart—don’t try to do it alone. We see claimants come to us after being bombarded with an endless barrage of anti-coverage grenades that share a single target: preventing them from collecting disability benefits.
How do disability insurers do this? They will often hire their own doctors to conduct medical examinations that will inevitably find you in “perfect” health. Alternatively, the doctors might not be qualified to render an opinion regarding your condition but may do so anyway. In real life, they would surely send their own patients to specialists.
If you happen to be wealthy, insurance companies may suggest that you stopped working out of choice or because you are burned out—not because you are truly and genuinely disabled. If that fails, insurance companies will often have their own paparazzi survive you to catch you, for a minute, exhibiting behavior that allegedly contradicts your medical records.
At times, disability carriers might also attempt to manufacture a “choice” argument by offering to retrain or rehabilitate the insured person. If the insured declines the offer, the insurer will argue that the insured has chosen to remain disabled and is therefore not entitled to long-term disability benefits.
Total disability does not signify an absolute state of helplessness. Rather, you must be unable to work in any position for which you are suited by way of education, training, or experience.
If you have been denied long-term disability benefits in Hamilton, speak with a disability lawyer who specializes in denied LTD claim litigation. Matt Lalande has represented hundreds of individual claimants at all stages of disability claims, including claim denial, denial at the change of definition, or lawsuits to recover disability benefits.
Our Burlington lawyers will file a claim on your behalf with the Superior Court of Justice. We will then be asking a Judge to declare that you are totally disabled from your own occupation, as well as for any occupation to which you are reasonably suited by educaiton, training and experience. You will have to attend to give your deposition – called an examination for discovery in Canada and give evidence concerning your long-term disability. Often times, a mediation or settlement can occur throughout the process if all of the evidence points to your condition fitting into the policy definition of total disability.
This is why it is vital that you retain long-term disability lawyers who are effective and experienced in gathering all of your relevant medical documentation, hiring the right experts and building a case against the disability company that will create risk – and show them that a mistake was made when you were cut-off or denied long-term disability.
We understand that you might be hesitant to contact a lawyer because you’re afraid of what it will cost. That’s a reasonable concern. However, rest assured that we will never ask you for money up front to start your case. Nor will we charge for initial consultations. We are more than happy to discuss your situation, provide you with opinions and advice, and help you determine your options. Lalande Personal Injury Lawyers is flexible and can arrange a consultation at a time that is convenient to you and your family.
Our Burlington long-term disability lawyers take pride in providing personalized services and expert advice regarding disability claims at all stages. We have been serving the serving Burlington since 2003 and have the experience you need. Our consultations are free and if we work together, we will never ask you for money upfront. Call us at 905-333-8888, fill in a contact form or chat 24/7 with our live operator. We will be happy to schedule an appointment that is convenient for you, no matte where you are in Ontario.
I was a dental hygienist that suffers from really bad scoliosis. My insurance company ignored my doc & cut my benefits off & told me I could do “something”. Matt got me CPP Disability and and LTD settlement – I don’t know what I would have done without him.
My daughter was killed by a drunk driver and it forever changed all of our lives. It seemed that for two years time stopped. This was no an easy journey. Matt let me sit in on the discovery of the driver and boy, he never let up. In the end, our grand-daughter was taken care of and we were compensated for our loss – which we then donated to a cause we believed in.
I call Matt my knight in shining armour. After I was struck by a car while cycling and permanently crippled, he fielded all communications with my especially difficult and downright nasty insurance adjuster. Every step of my care was a battle and I did not have the strength to fight alone.
I lost my leg in a terrible motorcycle accident and Matt help me recover compensation I need because I could not work and the cost of prosthetics and rehab are out of this world. I don’t know what I would have done without him.
My brother ended up paralyzed after a car accident and Lalande did SO MUCH to help get things straight from him getting out of the hospital to all his care for life. We are so grateful for Matt & Heather. I don’t know how my family could have done this without them.
