Legal Updates

In the latest slapdown of insurance shenanigans, the Western District of Pennsylvania dropped a detailed, point-by-point takedown of Unum’s denial of long-term disability (LTD) benefits in Mundrati v. Unum Life Ins. Co. of Am., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53449 Let’s dig into why Unum lost — and lost hard. Background: Dr. Pooja Mundrati and a 3-Year Medical Odyssey Dr. Pooja Mundrati, a highly specialized interventional spine physiatrist, suffered serious injuries from a 2018 car accident. Her symptoms ranged from persistent migraines and fatigue to cervical spinal stenosis requiring surgery. For years, she pushed through part-time work with documented restrictions from [...]

The recent case of Abrams v. Unum life Ins. Co. of America, 2022 US Dist. LEXIS 23195T0 highlights that a claimant may prevail on his/her disability claim without supporting objective medical evidence or even a proper diagnosis.   In April 2020 Mr. Abrams, who was a trial and appellate lawyer, began to experience frequent, almost daily, fevers. He also experienced severe fatigue and mental fogginess. He saw seven medical doctors with different specialties. He complained of the same symptoms of brain fog, fatigue, decreased attention and concentration and fevers. Three of his doctors diagnosed him with Long-Covid and four with [...]

Stennett & Casino filed suit against our client’s life insurance company for not paying benefits following his wife’s death. Sally taught the hearing-impaired at the public school. She herself was deaf and communicated mostly by sign language. Her speech is called deaf speech which is difficult to understand until one becomes accustomed to it. Sally’s benefit package as a teacher included life insurance and disability insurance. The premiums for those insurances were deducted from her paycheck.  Both policies were written by the same Insurance Company. Sally received a cancer diagnosis in early 2020. She stopped working as a teacher in [...]

The Federal District Court in San Diego issued an opinion granting disability benefits to a client of Stennett & Casino that contains several quotable statements relevant to ERISA disability claims. Stennett & Casino’s client’s claim was that side effects from medication taken to control seizures (fatigue and cognitive slowing) prevented him from returning to work. The disability insurer, Lincoln National, initially paid disability benefits while our client was actively having seizures. But once the medication successfully controlled his seizures Lincoln National, terminated his benefits based on the opinions of two physicians retained by Lincoln National who neither examined nor talked [...]