PEI Long-Term Disability Lawyers

A PEI LTD claim can be barred one year after proof of claim is furnished, or six years after the event, whichever first expires, depending on how the policy is classified under the Insurance Act; the Statute of Limitations sets six years for actions not otherwise limited. The letter says the medical information no longer supports total disability, sets an end date a few weeks away, and invites you to appeal within ninety days. The letter does not say that the Statute of Limitations, RSPEI 1988, c S-7 started a limitation period running the day it was signed, or that the appeal it invites does not stop that period. A PEI long-term disability lawyer reads the letter as the beginning of a lawsuit.

Most Island Plans Switch to the Any-Occupation Test at Twenty-Four Months

Almost every group plan sold on Prince Edward Island pays for the first twenty-four months if you cannot do your own job. After that it pays only if you cannot do any job that fits your education and experience. The termination arrives with a vocational report listing positions in Charlottetown or Summerside that the report says a person with your restrictions could hold. A dispatcher. A parking attendant. A call-centre agent. The report never asks whether anyone is hiring, whether you could get through a shift, or whether you could keep the job for a month. The answer is a vocational opinion of your own, built on the Island’s real labour market, and the treating specialists’ evidence on what your restrictions are.

Insurers Terminate on Conditions That No Scan Shows

Chronic pain, fibromyalgia, post-concussion syndrome, depression and anxiety are conditions that no scan shows. Insurers call that a lack of objective evidence and terminate on it. The Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island, like every court in the country, accepts a treating physician’s clinical findings as evidence of disability, and the opinion of a file reviewer who never met you does not carry more weight than those findings. Surveillance, a video of you carrying a bag of groceries or sitting at a child’s hockey game, is answered with the medical record of what the next day looked like.

What a PEI Long-Term Disability Lawyer Gets Back

The benefits owed since the cut-off, with interest. A settlement for the future, as a lump sum or a declaration that payments resume. Where the handling was unreasonable, damages for the distress caused and punitive damages. Most Island files resolve at a settlement conference once the medical evidence is in order.

CPP Disability, WCB PEI and Section B Are Deducted From the Plan

Nearly every plan makes you apply for Canada Pension Plan disability and subtracts what it pays. A CPP approval is also evidence in your favour. Insurers deduct WCB PEI benefits and Section B weekly indemnity after a crash as well. The three have to be coordinated so the offsets do not open a gap.

Should I File the Insurer’s Appeal First?

Only if time remains and you have something new to add. An appeal that repeats the same records gives the insurer months and gives you no benefit.

My Employer Terminated Me While I Was on Claim.

That termination is a separate claim against the employer, and the disability claim continues. The settlement terms need to be assessed together so that settling one does not release the other.

Will I Have to Pay Tax on a Settlement?

If your employer paid any of the premium, the benefits are taxable and the settlement is structured with that in mind. If you paid the whole premium, they are not.

The CPP disability decision and the firm’s long-term disability guide cover the policy language common to every Atlantic plan.

No Fee Unless the Claim Resolves

The first call is free and a lawyer takes it. There is no fee unless the claim resolves. Contact the firm, or read what the firm can do.