Success with Hartford Long-Term Disability Denial

Hartford conducted surveillance of our client walking to a grocery store, and terminated benefits contending the activity was above the client’s reported limitations. The client suffered from post spinal fusion surgery for lumbar degenerative disc disease, with radiculopathy radiating down to the knee. The client was also taking prescribed narcotic pain medications. We interviewed the client on video talking through the surveillance footage, showing the grocery store was blocks from home. We included a map of the route to visualize how short the distance was. The video also showed our client sitting and frequently needing to change positions, wholly consistent with results of a functional capacity evaluation and opinions of the client’s doctors. The result: claim paid.

Success with Hartford Long-Term Disability Denial

In another long-term disability case we turned around, Hartford referred to surveillance showing our client carrying a shopping bag and portraying the client as able to lift and carry heavy items. We performed a video interview of the client while watching the surveillance footage and the client narrating it. We showed the client explaining the shopping bag had a single item in it: a bottle of perfume purchased for a niece’s birthday. Combined with tests, medical opinions, and records, we had the client demonstrate ability to carry a bag with a perfume bottle in it, but struggling with heavier objects due to Rheumatoid Arthritis. Outcome: claim paid.