Do you ever feel like you are being watched? If you are filing an ERISA long-term disability (LTD) claim, someone may indeed be watching you. They may be following you around and filming you.
Insurance companies often hire a private investigator in ERISA disability claims. By snooping into your everyday life, they hope to find a snippet of evidence to persuade a judge to dismiss your appeal. There are four things they may try to prove with video evidence:
- That you can do more than you said you can.
- That you can do more than the medical experts said you can.
- That your disability does not prevent you from working.
- That you do not have a disability.
Think about a highlights reel of your favorite basketball player. It will not show their bad days or their misses; it will show them at their best. The same goes for the video of you that the insurance company will present to the court. They want to show you being active and doing things. They are not interested in the fact that you collapsed in agony when you got home. Or that nine days out of 10 you cannot do these things.
It is essential to respect the boundaries your doctor gives you. If they tell you not to walk more than an hour at a time or not carry the shopping, then don’t. A private investigator may film you breaking these boundaries and use it as evidence against you.
Insurance companies will do everything they can to deny paying you. You will need the help of an experienced ERISA attorney to fight them.