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HR2622 is an important Bill before Congress that deserves and needs your support. Any attorney representing claimants in long term disability cases could tell you that the playing field is slanted in favor of insurance companies. This is because in most cases under existing law an insurer's denial of disability benefits will be overturned by a Court only if the Court finds that the insurer's denial was arbitrary and capricious. Instead of looking at the evidence fairly, the Court will give the insurer's denial deference. Therefore, in order to win it is not just a question of proving that you are disabled, you must establish that the insurer's denial was arbitrary. This is extremely difficult to establish.

On June 7, 2007, I lectured at the 10th National Advanced Forum on Resolving Disability Insurance Lawyer New York Claims & Litigation in Boston. The conference is 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 my discussion was "Developments in ERISA Claims Handling and Litigation." Attending the conference are plaintiffs and defense lawyers as well as insurance company claims managers. Please take a look at ACI's website for more information, http://americanconference.com

Scott M. Riemer appeared as the guest speaker at the membership meeting of the Greater New York Chapter of the Vasculitis Foundation held on May 17, 2007. Mr. Riemer addressed potential pitfalls claimants could face when applying for long term disability benefits, particularly with respect to the family of diseases comprising vasculitis. The following diseases comprise vasculitis:

On February 7, 2007, I lectured at a Special Workshop on long term disability benefits held in the New York City offices of Friends in Deed. The title of the lecture was "Long-Term Disability Benefits in Danger: Disturbing Trends and Dirty Tricks. This was in conjunction with Per Larson, a financial planner. Friends in Deed is a nonprofit organization in New York City that serves as a crisis center for individuals suffering from life-threatening illnesses. Their website is located at www.friendsindeed.org.

If CIGNA, or one of its subsidiaries, denies your long term disability claim, you should send a request to CIGNA demanding a copy of its claims manual. You should ask for it by name; CIGNA calls its claims manual "The Book of Operating Knowledge."