Disability Insurance Law

Three disabled people looking at the sunset. Idea of healing and hope. 3d illustration.

New York City Disability Insurance Lawyers

At Hiller, PC, we handle disability insurance claims at all stages of the claims process – only on behalf of policyholders against their insurers.  If you need assistance filing a new claim for long-term disability benefits; monitoring or maintaining your approved claim; administratively appealing denied or terminated disability benefit claims; or litigating a denied disability administrative appeal or individual disability claim denial, the disability insurance attorneys at Hiller, PC can help.

Over the last three decades, our lawyers have developed a proven strategy for winning benefits – often without having to go to court. Unlike other disability firms, we vigorously pursue your benefits from the outset of the case. We don’t assume a court date is inevitable and wait to make our best case in front of a judge. Rather, we devote tireless effort to persuading the insurer, either through direct negotiation and/or through the administrative appeal process, to pay your benefits, without having to go to court. While litigation may sometimes lead to buy-outs and lump-sum payments, we have found that litigation, far more often than not, delays your receipt of benefits. So, where it is possible to obtain benefits prior to litigation, our New York disability lawyers make every effort to do so. And it often helps that, although you may not have heard of our firm, the insurance carriers certainly have.  And, Hiller, PC has a remarkable record of success – ultimately obtaining benefits for most of the Firm’s clients.

When litigation does become necessary, we are ready.  During our work over the years, we have accumulated a stockpile of internal insurance company documents and deposition transcripts of insurance company executives, claims managers, and adjusters that renders our prosecution of these claims far less complicated.  In 2001, we set the record in New York State at that time for the largest verdict against a disability insurance carrier. We were also the first law firm in New York to establish a policyholder’s right to recover treble and punitive damages from insurance companies for violation of the RICO Statute.  We are always seeking innovative ways to obtain our clients the long-term disability benefits to which they are rightfully entitled.

For more information see below and Disability Claims Frequently Asked Questions.

Our New York Disability Insurance Lawyers Can Help At Any Stage of the Claims Process

Whether you are contemplating applying for long-term disability benefits, have applied and been denied, or have had your benefits terminated, we can help. Our disability attorneys provide these services to our disability clients:

We file initial claims.

If you are contemplating filing for disability benefits, let us help you prepare your initial claim. We will obtain and review your medical records; complete the paperwork; ensure the attending physicians’ statements are accurate and in order; and present a complete and persuasive claim for your benefits to the insurance company.

We monitor claims through the approval process.

Whether we filed your long-term disability claim or you filed your claim on your own, the insurance company is going to have questions. We deal with those questions for you; provide additional information upon request; and work to keep your claim moving through the approval process.

We maintain clients “on benefits.”

Once a claim is approved, the insurance company will conduct periodic reviews. An insurer’s representative often calls the insured to follow up and ask questions, always looking to lay a trap and uncover evidence to terminate benefits. Our clients don’t fall into this trap. We deal directly with the insurance company for you, and work with your employer and your doctors to keep you “on benefits.”

We handle administrative appeals in ERISA cases.

Most firms focus solely on the litigation – what happens when the claim or appeal is denied and goes to court. At Hiller, PC, we do things differently. We bring all our experience to bear and focus tremendous energy and effort on the long term disability administrative appeal because if you lose this appeal and have to go to court, the entire universe of your case will consist of the information contained in your claim file at the time of the appeal denial; the Judge generally is not permitted to consider outside evidence. Accordingly, our disability insurance lawyers take a different approach to administrative appeals. We don’t simply file a letter, like some other firms do. We generally file lengthy briefs, often with hundreds (or sometimes thousands) of pages of exhibits. We martial all the evidence so that the insurance company (and, if necessary, the court) has the entire record to consider in deciding your appeal.

We prosecute denials. 

If your claim or administrative appeal is denied, we will file a lawsuit and fight for your benefits in court.

Our New York Insurance Lawyers Have Vast Experience and Knowledge

Our New York disability lawyers have helped people obtain disability benefits with, among other things, the following medical conditions:

The insurers we have persuaded to pay benefits or against which we’ve obtained judgments are counted among the nation’s largest and most litigious carriers, including:

Finding Experienced New York Disability Lawyers is Essential to Your Claim Strategy

Regardless of what stage you are at in the disability insurance claim process, Hiller, PC can help.  We successfully prosecute claims where our client’s disability is hotly contested by the insurance company, and where disability insurers have counterclaimed, alleging failure to disclose pre-existing conditions and other claims of fraud.  We do not back down to insurance companies. 

Male Patient Having Blood Pressure Taken By Female Doctor In Office