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MSNBC reported today that New York disability lawyer filings are up 30% in the last two years as a result of the poor economy. Click here

On August 5, 2009, the Federal District Court in New York City ordered INA Life Insurance Company of New York, a subsidiary of CIGNA, to pay our client $180,466.60 in attorney fees. This award follows a battle for long term Attorney Lawyer New York disability benefits, where the Court found that CIGNA's denial of long term disability benefits was arbitrary and capricious.

On June 15, 2009, Scott M. Riemer was one of the featured speakers at the 12th National Advanced Forum on Resolving Disability Lawyer New York Insurance Claims & Litigation in Boston. The conference was sponsored by the American Conference Institute. The conference included speakers who are leading plaintiff and defense lawyers as well as top medical experts. The topic of Mr. Riemer's discussion was "The Impact of MetLife v. Glenn on the Standard of Review and Discovery." Please take a look at ACI's website for more information, http://www.americanconference.com/Home.htm.

In Jacoby v. Hartford, 254 F.R.D. 477 (S.D.N.Y. 2009), the Federal District in New York City ordered Hartford to produce thousands of pages of documents pertaining to Hartford’s inherent conflict of interest. Rejecting Hartford’s claims of confidentiality and burdensomeness, the Court ordered Hartford to respond to plaintiff’s interrogatories and document demands, including the full production of Hartford’s BMS Claims Manual and SIU Reference Manual. The Court also rejected Hartford’s claim that documents held by its consulting firms Medical Advisory Group and University Disability Consortium were not within its “possession, custody or control.”
This decision is a valuable precedent because it provides a possible solution to the dilemma of being whipsawed between the insurance company and its consultants. When seeking documents, each entity claims that the other has the sole duty of producing the requested documents. In this case, the Court rejected Hartford's assertion that the documents held by its consultants, Medical Advisory Group and University Disability Consortium were outside Hartford's control. The Court ordered Hartford to use its influence with its consultants to obtain the requested documents. The Court held:

On January 12, 2009, Scott M. Riemer will receive the Public Education award of the New York City Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The Award is to salute Mr. Riemer for his volunteer services for Chapter members and for his pro bono efforts to make the procedures used for long-term disability insurance more equitable for those disabled by multiple sclerosis.