Individual Disability Insurance Claim Attorneys

You paid substantial premiums for years, believing your individual disability insurance (IDI) policy would provide financial security if illness or injury prevented you from working. 

Instead, you received a denial letter with complex medical terminology and policy interpretations designed to avoid paying legitimate claims.

Individual disability insurance claim attorneys understand that IDI denials affect professionals who purchased policies specifically because they needed reliable income protection tailored to their unique occupations.

Unlike employer-provided group coverage governed by restrictive ERISA regulations, your individual policy should offer broader protections and higher benefit amounts. 

When insurers wrongfully deny these claims, they threaten your immediate financial stability and your long-term professional future.

At Sandstone Law Group, we recognize the devastating impact wrongful IDI denials can have on professionals who depend on specialized income protection. 

Our attorneys focus on holding insurance companies accountable when they misrepresent policy provisions, ignore compelling medical evidence, or employ bad faith tactics to deny valid claims.

Call (602) 615-0050 now for a free consultation about your denied individual disability insurance claim.

Key Takeaways: Understanding Individual Disability Insurance Claims

• State law advantages: Individual disability insurance policies are usually governed by state insurance law rather than federal ERISA regulations, providing broader remedies including bad faith damages, punitive awards, and attorney fee recovery. Our experienced ERISA disability attorneys can help you understand the differences between these types of claims and protect your rights under either framework.
• Professional-focused coverage: IDI policies are typically purchased by high-income professionals like physicians, attorneys, dentists, and business owners who need "own occupation" coverage that group plans rarely provide.
• No exhaustion requirement: Unlike ERISA cases, you're not typically required to complete internal appeals before pursuing legal action, though strategic appeals may strengthen your litigation position.
• Arizona and California benefits: Both states offer strong consumer protection laws.
• Medical documentation standards: IDI claims require comprehensive evidence from treating physicians, but insurers cannot rely solely on biased independent medical exams to contradict your doctor's assessments.
• Extended legal deadlines: While internal appeal periods vary by policy, state statutes of limitations for breach of contract and bad faith claims provide longer timeframes for pursuing legal remedies.

Why Choose Sandstone Law Group to Fight Individual Disability Insurance Denials?

When your individual disability insurance company denies your claim, it is a betrayal of the trust you placed in your policy. At Sandstone Law Group, we fight to restore not only your income, but your peace of mind, your dignity, and your sense of control.

We understand that our clients would give anything to feel well again, return to work, and regain normalcy. But when insurers refuse to honor their promises, we step in with conviction, clarity, and relentless legal resolve.

We Know Insurers’ Tactics: Insurance companies have well-documented patterns of minimizing valid claims through tactics like:

• Discrediting treating physicians
• Downplaying symptoms using biased reviewers
• Exploiting surveillance footage out of context
• Misapplying policy language to limit or terminate benefits.

We have seen it all: Our attorneys have successfully challenged these strategies across both ERISA-governed and individual disability insurance policies. We handle every stage of the process, including:

• Appealing internal denials with robust medical and legal documentation
• Challenging biased IMEs, peer reviews, and vocational assessments
• Litigating denials in federal or state court
• Using procedural violations and bad faith conduct to shift leverage in your favor.

We Are Courtroom-Ready: While many firms quietly settle or avoid litigation, we take the opposite approach: we prepare every case as if it will go to court. That mindset forces insurers to take our clients seriously, and it shows in our track record.

We Win Because We Care: We do not treat cases like files or numbers. We treat them like the deeply personal battles they are. Our clients are people whose lives have been upended by disability and corporate denial—and we treat their stories with the respect and legal firepower they deserve.

Our team brings a rare combination of legal aggression and personal compassion. We have seen the damage done by disability denials, and we fight like it is personal, because in many ways, it is.

Tactics Insurance Companies Use to Deny Individual Disability Insurance Claims

Insurance companies employ increasingly sophisticated strategies to deny individual disability insurance claims, often exploiting the complex medical and occupational assessments that these policies require.

Misrepresenting occupation definitions

Insurers frequently attempt to broaden "own occupation" definitions beyond your specific job duties to include related occupations you could theoretically perform despite your disability.

Our IDI denial attorneys analyze policy language alongside industry standards to demonstrate precisely how your disability prevents you from performing your particular occupation's essential and material duties.

Challenging treating physician's credibility

Companies routinely dispute your treating physician's disability assessment by hiring biased independent medical examiners or paper reviewers who never personally examined you or your medical condition.

Sandstone Law Group challenges these one-sided reviews by presenting compelling evidence from medical professionals who may provide more accurate and comprehensive assessments of your condition.

Manipulating elimination periods

Insurers may incorrectly calculate elimination period requirements, claiming that certain treatment periods or disability phases don't count toward satisfying your policy's waiting period provisions.

We meticulously review medical records and policy terms to establish accurate elimination period compliance and challenge any improper delay tactics.

Surveillance and privacy violations

Some insurance companies employ surveillance teams or social media monitoring to gather evidence they hope will contradict your disability claim or undermine your credibility.

An individual disability claim denial attorney from Sandstone Law Group helps protect your fundamental privacy rights and challenge surveillance evidence that violates insurance regulations or misrepresents your actual functional limitations and capabilities.

Income verification manipulation

Companies may challenge your pre-disability income calculations or argue that your disability doesn't meaningfully affect your professional earning capacity or career advancement potential.

We often work closely with financial analysts and vocational rehabilitation specialists to thoroughly document your income loss and demonstrate how your disability impacts your professional earning ability.

How Sandstone Law Group Individual Disability Insurance Attorneys Can Help

Individual disability insurance claims present unique legal opportunities not available in employer-provided group coverage cases governed by restrictive ERISA regulations.

These policies operate under state insurance law rather than federal regulations, providing significantly broader remedies for policyholders facing wrongful denials.

Recent IDI claim denials

Whether your denial occurred recently or within the past several years, you may still have viable legal options under applicable state insurance law provisions.

We'll thoroughly evaluate your specific reasons for denial and develop comprehensive strategies to challenge unreasonable claims handling or improper policy interpretations.

Partial benefit calculation disputes

If your insurer approved some benefits while denying others, or improperly reduced your benefit amount without adequate justification, this conduct may indicate bad faith practices worth challenging legally.

Our individual disability insurance claim denial lawyers can analyze your policy terms meticulously and demand full benefits based on your disability's actual documented impact.

Own occupation coverage disputes

IDI policies frequently include highly specialized "own occupation" definitions that differ substantially from standard group plan provisions and requirements.

Sandstone Law Group works to demonstrate how your disability prevents you from performing your specific professional duties and responsibilities, not simply any available job in the broader economy.

Income replacement calculation errors

Disputes involving pre-disability income calculations or benefit amount determinations can significantly impact your long-term financial recovery and stability.

We'll review your policy terms and comprehensive financial records to demand accurate benefit calculations reflecting your true income loss.

Medical evidence presentation challenges

When insurers dispute your treating physician's professional assessments or rely heavily on biased independent medical reviews, we'll gather additional compelling medical evidence and systematically challenge the company's medical opinions contradicting unfair or biased findings that may hurt your case.

Bad faith insurance conduct

If your insurer's behavior involves unreasonable processing delays, deliberate misrepresentation of policy terms, or other bad faith practices, our experienced insurance bad faith lawyer pursue additional damages beyond your standard policy benefits to hold them legally accountable for violations of state insurance law requirements.

Legal History of Individual Disability Insurance Cases

Individual disability insurance claims have a complex legal history shaped by years of litigation, evolving state statutes, and aggressive insurance company tactics.

Courts in Arizona and California have both issued significant decisions strengthening policyholders’ rights when insurers deny claims without a reasonable basis or fail to conduct thorough, good-faith investigations.

These cases often revolve around disputes over “own occupation” definitions, biased medical reviews, misapplication of elimination periods, or unreasonable interpretation of coverage provisions.

Legal professionals understand which arguments resonate in court, how state-specific rulings may impact a claim’s outcome, and how insurers have historically responded to aggressive legal action.

This perspective allows Sandstone Law Group to anticipate tactics, avoid pitfalls, and develop a position of strength from the start.

How to Appeal an Individual Disability Insurance Denial

Appealing a denied individual disability insurance claim is a high-stakes process often requiring claimants to:

• identify errors in the denial
• gather evidence addressing the insurer’s stated denial reasons
• craft arguments grounded in policy language and case law.

These and other critical requirements of the appeals process may be better met with the help of experienced IDI attorneys at Sandstone Law Group. We have a long history of helping claimants build a strong case to reverse the denial and secure the full benefits you may be owed from a policy.

Are you concerned about handling the IDI appeals process alone? Contact Sandstone Law Group online or at (602) 615-0050 to explore your legal rights and options during a free case evaluation.

Individual DIsability Insurance Claim Attorneys FAQ

Take Action Against Your Wrongful Individual Disability Insurance Denial With Sandstone Law Group

Your individual disability insurance policy represents years of substantial premium payments and your fundamental expectation of financial security during times of illness or injury.

When insurance companies wrongfully deny these claims, they're breaking contractual promises and threatening your professional future and financial stability during your most vulnerable period.

At Sandstone Law Group, we've built our practice around protecting the rights of professionals whose individual disability insurance claims have been wrongfully denied or improperly terminated.

We understand the unique legal advantages of IDI cases, including the ability to pursue bad faith damages, punitive awards, and attorney fee recovery under state insurance law. 

Call (602) 615-0050 or message an IDI attorney from Sandstone Law Group online free consultation about your denied individual disability insurance claim. We'll review your case, explain your legal options, and fight aggressively to recover the benefits your insurance company wrongfully denied.