Vancouver Disability Settlements
When can you get a settlement?
In many cases, a disability settlement is possible if the insurance company has reached the point where they outright refuse to pay benefits. Usually, by that time, the disability company has sent someone many “form letters” saying “no” to paying benefits. These letters are “form” letters because most of the wording is cut and pasted into the letter by the insurance company and they send hundreds of the same type of letter to others when denying claims.
Downtown Vancouver Disability Settlements Lawyers
Call us today for a free consultation 604-684-4300
We also have offices in Surrey and Abbotsford:
Surrey Disability Settlements – Abbotsford Disability Settlements
These letters usually offer some future hope by mentioning words like “appeal” or saying “new evidence” might change their mind. However, usually, by the time such letters start arriving at your home, you can bet that the insurance company has made up its mind and dug in its heels.
Once the insurance company reaches this point of no return, a disability lawyer can often help you get a lump sum settlement. The message you are getting with many letters of this nature is really the insurance company telling you ‘we are not going to pay unless you put up a legal fight’. If you do hire a lawyer and start a legal battle, the insurance company may choose to pay your future and past benefits owing in a lump sum payment.
It is highly unlikely a person would ever get a lump sum payment without the help of an experienced lawyer. Insurance companies are sophisticated businesses. They know that it is very hard for a person without a lawyer to fight them legally and force them to pay disability benefits.
At Bungay Law, the first thing we do towards getting you a settlement is to sue the insurance company. Our lawyers create a legal document called a Notice of Civil Claim and we file this with the Court. In the Notice of Civil Claim, our disability lawyers set out all the ways the insurance company has treated you unfairly. For example, we tell the Court in writing that the insurance company “wrongfully refused” to pay your benefits. Our disability lawyers then give a copy of this document to the insurance company’s lawyer. Once this is received by the insurance company’s lawyer, you give notice (through your lawyer) that you are taking this seriously.
After Bungay Law sues the disability insurance company, we then down a date for a trial in Court. 99% of these cases do not go to Court, but setting a trial date is an important way for your lawyer to tell the insurance company you are not going to be pushed around.
After the Court date is set, our disability lawyers keep the pressure on by giving notice they want to ask your adjuster questions. We do this by setting down something called an “examination for discovery”. At this proceeding, one of our disability lawyers holds a hearing where the adjuster who denied your claim has to answer questions. In other words, we sit across the table from the adjuster who said “no” to you. Our legal team then grills the adjuster with very pointed questions. In this way, we make the adjuster explain why chose not to pay you. This also makes sure that the agent who denied your claim cannot simply hide behind a telephone or a form letter any longer. We force them to acknowledge you are a real person whose life has been affected and we make them answer for why they treated you this way.
How can Bungay Law get you a settlement?
At Bungay Law, the first thing we do towards getting you a settlement is to sue the insurance company. Our lawyers create a legal document called a Notice of Civil Claim and we file this with the Court. In the Notice of Civil Claim, our disability lawyers set out all the ways the insurance company has treated you unfairly. For example, we tell the Court in writing that the insurance company “wrongfully refused” to pay your benefits. Our disability lawyers then give a copy of this document to the insurance company’s lawyer. Once this is received by the insurance company’s lawyer, you give notice (through your lawyer) that you are taking this seriously.
After Bungay Law sues the disability insurance company, we then down a date for a trial in Court. 99% of these cases do not go to Court, but setting a trial date is an important way for your lawyer to tell the insurance company you are not going to be pushed around.
After the Court date is set, our disability lawyers keep the pressure on by giving notice they want to ask your adjuster questions. We do this by setting down something called an “examination for discovery”. At this proceeding, one of our disability lawyers holds a hearing where the adjuster who denied your claim has to answer questions. In other words, we sit across the table from the adjuster who said “no” to you. Our legal team then grills the adjuster with very pointed questions. In this way, we make the adjuster explain why chose not to pay you. This also makes sure that the agent who denied your claim cannot simply hide behind a telephone or a form letter any longer. We force them to acknowledge you are a real person whose life has been affected and we make them answer for why they treated you this way.
Mediation – A settlement meeting with the insurance company
If you have been rejected for disability benefits, you likely know that you never get to actually meet the person who said no to you. It is hard to reach this person on the telephone, and the agent you speak with often may not seem to be listening to your arguments. The insurance agent hides behind paperwork while you suffer at home.
Downtown Vancouver Disability Settlements Lawyers
Call us today for a free consultation 604-684-4300
We also have offices in Surrey and Abbotsford:
Surrey Disability Settlements – Abbotsford Disability Settlements
At Bungay Law, we force insurance agents and their lawyers to meet you face to face in something called a “mediation”. This is a part of the legal process where we can force the insurance company to come and meet you in a boardroom to try and settle your case. As part of this process, we hire an experienced mediator to try and broker a deal between you and the insurance company. A mediator is usually someone with legal experience in disability law who tries to get both parties to agree on a financial settlement.
Often, these mediations are very successful. Most insurance companies would rather not carry on with more legal expenses after mediation and usually, at the end of this procedure, they will offer you a lump sum settlement for your disability benefits.
One of the best things about a disability mediation is that you get to have your say, personally, to the insurance company that rejected you. They are forced to see you as a person and to hear you personally say how your life has been negatively affected by them. At Bungay Law, we believe that you have a right to be heard by your disability insurance company. In our experience, this often helps convince them to pay you a settlement.
How much money can you get?
Many people want to know how much money they can get from a disability settlement. This depends on a number of factors including the following:
- Your age
- How strong your case is (if you have good evidence supporting your case)
- The monthly amount of your benefit
Usually, the insurance company wants to put the case behind them, meaning they want to pay you a lump sum for all of your future benefits. The lump-sum is calculated, in part, by looking at your age, how many years you have left on your policy, and how much your monthly benefit is. So, for example, if you were 40 years old, and your monthly benefit was $2000, we would fight to get you a future lump amount covering you up to age 65 plus amounts for inflation.
If the insurance company treats you very badly, you can get extra money
If the insurance company treats you very badly, at Bungay Law, we fight to get you extra money to compensate you over and above what your monthly benefits would be. In law, there are certain types of “damages” courts look at that compensate a victim who has been treated poorly by a disability insurance company. These damages include money for things like aggravated damages and punitive damages.
Aggravated damages are money that an insurance company is required to pay when their conduct is unethical and it causes you extra pain and mental stress. For example, if the insurance company constantly ignored your phone calls and letters, or if they intentionally did not look at evidence that showed you were disabled, you likely felt a lot of emotional pain because of the way you were treated. If that happened you to, our disability lawyers would fight to get you paid extra money to help address the way you were mistreated.
In some cases, our disability lawyers can force the insurance company to pay extra money as punishment for mistreating you. Extra money paid by the insurance company as punishment for their poor conduct is known as “punitive damages”.
Punitive damages awards against disability insurance companies may be available in cases such as the following:
- If the insurance company does not deal with your disability claim in an honest and reasonable manner
- If the insurance company blatantly ignores evidence that makes it clear you are disabled and refuses to pay you benefits
- If the insurance company does not deal with you in good faith (does not treat you fairly and decently when assessing your disability claim)
Downtown Vancouver Disability Settlements Lawyers
Call us today for a free consultation 604-684-4300
We also have offices in Surrey and Abbotsford:
Surrey Disability Settlements – Abbotsford Disability Settlements
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