Lincoln Financial Denials

In one case we had with Lincoln Financial, Lincoln terminated our client’s long-term disability benefits upon a change in definition to the “any occupation” definition of disability, concluding our client could perform sedentary occupations, or jobs where you sit most of the time. The client suffered from chronic lower back pain and deformed vertebrae, and needed a cane to walk. So according to Lincoln Financial, the client could still work if he just sat. Our client’s doctors explained the client could not sit long enough to work in a sedentary occupation, but Lincoln terminated the benefits anyway. In the termination, Lincoln asked the client to submit any evidence that corroborates the treating doctor’s opinion that the client cannot sit enough to work full-time. We obtained a functional capacity evaluation which proved exactly what our client’s doctor told Lincoln, showing the client could not sit more than 10 minutes at a time. Result: payment to client. Another case we litigated, after another firm abandoned the client, the client suffered from Migraine Associated Vertigo and could not tolerate looking at a computer screen for any meaningful duration of time. Despite a challenge others would not take, we recovered for the client.