Hartford Can’t Terminate Benefits Based on Secret Doctor Report

Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Co. violated federal benefits law when it denied a woman’s claim for disability benefits based partly on a doctor’s report the woman didn’t get to see or respond to, a federal judge ruled.

The March 25 decision considered a question that has split the federal appeals courts: can a benefit plan administrator procure new medical evidence while it considers an internal appeal over a denied benefits claim and then use that evidence to deny the appeal without allowing the claimant to see and respond to it?

No, said Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer of the U.S. ...