The Standard

As nationwide disability insurance advocates, we have heard horror stories about The Standard Insurance Company. Across the United States, disability insurance claims are wrongfully denied every day by The Standard Insurance Company and big insurance companies like them. This leaves people with long-term disabilities without the benefits they need and deserve.

If The Standard Insurance Company has wrongfully denied your long-term disability claim, call our experienced disability attorneys for help. We will answer your questions about your Standard Insurance claim and discuss your options. Don’t worry, there is no upfront fee to pay so, call now.

The Standard Insurance Company (The Standard) is the fourth largest group disability insurance provider in the United States, offering both short-term disability and long-term disability insurance policies. The Standard offers a wide range of group coverages that overlap from plan to plan, making it difficult to determine what is included or excluded from your specific insurance policy. The Standard uses this to deny claims for things it should cover but it actually doesn’t. If you suspect the exclusion they claim is mis-interpreted, you must carefully review the words of their policy with a experienced disability insurance lawyer like those at Mehr Fairbanks.

The Standard Insurance Company has an obligation to act in good faith and to fulfill their contractual obligations to you. Unfortunately, they often fail. Many disabled people suffer unreasonable delays in receiving their benefits; others experience wrongful denials of their claims. If you feel as though your disability claim was wrongfully denied, give us a call. We can often tell you if you have a case over the phone.

When a policyholder files a claim with The Standard Insurance Company, the law requires that company to act in good faith. This means that the law does not allow insurance companies to get away with looking for ways to avoid paying rightful claims. When insurance companies do this, they act in bad faith. Bad faith claims and lawsuits can arise in many ways, including, but not limited to:

• Unjustified delays in paying claims by The Standard Insurance Company
• Unjustified denials of disability coverage
• Failure to provide a prompt and reasonable explanation for a claim denial
• Failure to reasonably investigate a claim with an eye towards payment
• Refusing to pay a claim without a proper investigation
• Failing to make a claim decision within a reasonable amount of time
• Failure to relate relevant information to the claimant (or person filing the claim)

Insurance companies are required to pay approved claims within a reasonable amount of time—the specifics will vary depending on the circumstances and policies.

In certain cases, insurance companies may lawfully terminate your benefits/coverage. This can depend on the terms of your policy and other intervening factors. This does not, however, justify every termination. If you have questions, call Mehr Fairbanks disability insurance lawyers immediately so we can help you.

The Standard Insurance Company includes discretionary language in their policies that allow them to attempt to disregard your physician’s statements and medical records when choosing to deny your claim. This does not mean, however, that you can’t fight back. Depending on the circumstances, insurance companies’ decisions to ignore physician statements and medical records can constitute bad faith in individual policies and an arbitrary and capricious finding on group ERISA claims.

In some cases, The Standard Insurance Company can make the burden of filing a claim unbearable. Endless requests for information may cause you to give up on your claim or, if the burden overwhelms you, you could easily miss a filing deadline, or not timely provide reasons why the insurance company has unfairly denied your claim. Mehr Fairbanks experienced disability denial attorneys will help you address these and other insurance issues.

The Standard Insurance Company may conduct an IME to determine the cause, severity, and expected medical limitations of an injury or sickness—where their liability is at issue. Doctors with no connection to the claimant and some fidelity to the insurance company, however, normally perform these IMEs. As might come as no surprise, these doctors can conduct these IMEs in a biased manner. If you have questions about an upcoming IME exam, contact a disability insurance lawyer at Mehr Fairbanks.

After receiving the initial settlement offer for your insurance claim, you may have to decide whether to accept or deny it. The Standard Insurance Company wants to pay as little as possible, so they tend to make extremely low initial offers. They have a range of compensation to offer but tend to propose the lowest figure first, hoping you’ll accept it without contest. Talk to our experienced disability lawyers; Phil, Elizabeth, Bartley or Austin are experience negotiators and can lead to a better settlement offer.

There are many more ways that The Standard Insurance Company could act in bad faith by denying your disability insurance claim. The Standard Insurance Company is always coming up with new ways to deny claims.

There is often no way for you to know if your disability claim was wrongfully denied. You cannot afford to go without the benefits promised to you by The Standard Insurance Company.

This is why you need a bad faith disability insurance lawyer on your side. Mehr Fairbanks Trial Lawyers have decades of experience fighting for people like you and a winning track record of making insurance companies pay. Don’t give up, give us a call.