Reliance Standard Wins Disability Appeal Over Dog-Walking Video

Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co. properly terminated the long-term disability benefits of a physical therapist assistant with balance issues after video surveillance footage showed her easily navigating snowbanks while walking a dog, the Tenth Circuit ruled.

The video evidence shows the assistant “can walk briskly and steadily for at least twenty minutes, including over occasionally uneven and potentially slippery terrain,” the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said in an unpublished Oct. 7 opinion. Reliance Standard properly relied on these videos to conclude that she was no longer restricted from performing any occupation, the court said.

The assistant, ...