Research conducted by the United States Census Bureau revealed that 6.3% of individuals in Los Angeles under the age of 65 were living with a disability for the years 2014-2018. In California, employer-funded disability insurance policies (as well as those paid by the employee as part of a group plan benefit with the employer) may provide short term disability benefits and long term disability benefits. If you suffer from an illness or injury that prevents you from working, you may be eligible to receive such benefits. If your condition lasts or is expected to last a period of 12 months or longer you may also be eligible to receive Social Security Disability benefits.
Los Angeles Long Term Disability, ERISA, and Disability Insurance Claims
Our job is to make the insurance company pay the benefits you are owed and maximize your recovery under your LTD policy. We never charge any attorney fees or costs unless we recover benefits for you. Our Los Angeles long term disability lawyer can assist you with the following:
- If you have been denied benefits, we can help prepare and file your administrative appeal with the insurance company in an effort to maximize the chances that your LTD claim will be approved.
- If your benefits have been cut-off or terminated, we can help prepare the appeal to have your benefits reinstated.
- If you have exhausted your administrative appeals with the insurance company, we may be able to file a lawsuit against the insurance company.
- Our firm does not typically handle short term disability cases. However, if your short term disability benefits have been denied and you have long term disability coverage that may be impacted then we may be able to assist you with that claim as well.
- If you have been offered a lump sum settlement offer, we can help you evaluate the fairness of the offer and possibly negotiate for a higher settlement amount/
Ortiz Law Firm Represents Los Angeles Long Term Disability Claimants
There is one question that we get all the time, and that is, “Can I hire you if I’m not in your local area?”
The answer is yes! Nick Ortiz and the experienced legal team at Ortiz Law Firm can represent individuals anywhere in the United States – in fact, anywhere in the world – and we’ll explain to you why.
Ortiz Law Firm is based primarily in Pensacola, Florida, but because most group plans are governed by ERISA, Nick Ortiz can handle a case anywhere in the United States. In fact, in the past few years, he has represented individuals from Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and even claimants around the world (prior clients have lived in Morocco and the Philippines, for example).
For those of you in California, he also has a bar law license in the state of California, so he can represent claimants at any bar in the state of California.
The reasons why Nick Ortiz can represent people anywhere in the state:
- he is admitted to every bar in the state of California, and
- Most long term disability cases (not all, but most) are governed by a federal regulation called ERISA.
Under ERISA, you do not have the right to a jury trial, and – in most cases – you do not have the right to engage in extensive discovery. What that means is at the end of the day, most of the work is paper-driven, involves a lot of brief writing, and a lot of correspondence by mail. There are very few court appearances required, and as a result, we can handle a federal court case anywhere in the state.
In terms of communicating with you, we use an electronic signature service for a lot of the correspondence, and then we e-mail and fax and communicate by phone, so everything can be done by mail, fax, and e-mail.
We evaluate each case on a case-by-case basis. Nick Ortiz can either be admitted to your local federal court by what we would call a pro hac vice admission, or he can file a lawsuit here in the state of Florida. Again, what we do is we evaluate each case on a case-by-case basis.
Los Angeles Courts, Government, and Department of Insurance Information
Central District of California | United States District Court
Courts of Appeal – DCA – California Courts
Official government website for the State of California
California Department of Insurance
Central District of California Case Summaries
Court Holds That MetLife Undermined the ERISA Process
Plaintiff Refused to Follow Recommended Treatment Plan
Court Upholds Denial Of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Claim
Court Rules That The Mental Illness Limitation Doesn’t Apply
Los Angeles Social Security Disability Claims
Coping with a disabling illness or injury is difficult enough, so let a Board Certified Social Security Disability lawyer fight for the benefits you deserve. Although our office is based in Pensacola, we assist claimants nationwide from the initial application process to a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge.
Los Angeles SSA Locations and Resources
Directions to the local Social Security Administration Office
Schedule a Free Case Evaluation with a Los Angeles Disability Lawyer
The long and short of it is you should not allow our geographic location to limit your contacting us to see what we can do to help you. Ortiz Law Firm offers a free case evaluation for individuals whose long term disability claims have been wrongfully denied or terminated. We also offer free consultations for individuals seeking Social Security Disability benefits.
If you’re in the state of California and unable to work due to an illness or injury, then please give us a call right away at (888) 321-8131 to discuss your legal rights. We review each claim on a case-by-case basis, regardless of your location. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss your claim with you.