In this video Marc Whitehead, Board Certified Long Term Disability Attorney, discusses whether or not you can get Attorney fees using ERISA Law.
This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about ERISA’s unfair rules regarding getting your attorney fees paid for by the other side. Not only are you not guaranteed to get those fees paid if you win like in many other kinds of cases the decision is left up to the discretion of the judge. More over, that judge can chose a percentage of the fees that the insurance company has to pay. Allowing them to get off the hook for less and take more out of your pocket. But the law even goes beyond this, though claimants are forced to go through convoluted administrative remedies before they can even file a court case. If an attorney helps you through this portion of your case it is not possible to have the other side pay for your attorneys fees that are incurred during that time.
What is truly frustrating about this part of ERISA law is that you are forced to do something that costs you money you don’t have in order to even get to the point where you can potentially get the insurance company to cover your costs. It is blatantly designed to keep people from suing their insurance companies and it’s not fair. That is one of the reasons that we offer free consultations and most of our long term disability cases are taken on a contingency fee. We don’t get paid unless you win. It is not an ideal situation but it’s the best we can do until the people put pressure on law makers to advise ERISA so that it actually focuses on workers rights instead of insurer rights.
