Greenberg Traurig Lawyer Wins Second Look at Disability Claim

Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada must reconsider its decision denying disability benefits to a Greenberg Traurig LLP shareholder who said his severe fatigue prevented him from continuing to work as an attorney.

Sun Life was wrong to stop investigating the shareholder’s potential psychiatric or cognitive impairments midway through its consideration of his appeal, the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held. It sent the benefits dispute back to the insurer so it could conduct a proper review.

The lawsuit was filed in 2020 by Trent Murch, a corporate attorney who stopped working in 2018 after experiencing severe fatigue, pain, nausea, and other symptoms. Murch sought disability benefits from Sun Life, which denied his claim in 2019 after concluding that his conditions didn’t prevent him from performing his job.

Murch filed an internal appeal. During the course of this appeal, his lawyer submitted a letter that included a line saying that Murch “is not suffering from a disabling psychiatric or cognitive impairment.” After receiving that letter, Sun Life stopped its investigation into whether such impairments could render Murch disabled.

This was an error, the court said in a Monday opinion by Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman.

“As Murch made clear from the onset of his claim, he faced many combined symptoms, including psychiatric or cognitive impairments, which he believed made him unable to work,” Coleman said. “The Court finds it doubtful that Murch would have suddenly had this about-face regarding his claimed disabilities, and the record does not suggest that Murch disavowed claims based on cognitive and psychological impairments.”

The court pointed out that this “misinterpretation” of Murch’s claim resulted in Sun Life failing to give complete information to the doctor reviewing his case form a psychiatric standpoint. It also wasn’t explained to Murch during the appeals process, which denied him the opportunity to correct the insurer’s misinterpretation, the court said.

Essex Richards and Bryant Legal Group PC represent Murch. Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP represents Sun Life.

The case is Murch v. Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada, 2023 BL 137606, N.D. Ill., No. 1:20-cv-03900, 4/24/23.