Referral Process

WE SHARE FEES ON REFERRED ERISA LONG-TERM DISABILITY, LIFE INSURANCE AND ACCIDENTAL DEATH INSURANCE DENIAL CASES IN ACCORDANCE WITH BAR ASSOCIATION RULES

Does your office turn away calls about “long-term disability insurance” claim denials because you don’t handle administrative appeals or “ERISA litigation” in federal court?

I’m one of the few attorneys in Louisiana or Texas whose practice is 100% devoted to the weird world of ERISA law, representing claimants for long-term-disability (I don’t do Social Security), life and accidental death insurance denials in federal court statewide.

I’ve been at it for 30 years, and have become so involved in the ERISA world that I recently stopped taking on personal injury claims, which had been about 50% of my practice. Now it’s all ERISA.

I’m looking to form quality, mutually beneficial referral relationships with a few attorneys in different fields of practice from different cities around the state. Let me know what you think.

WE’LL REFER CASES TO YOU – NO REFERRAL FEE REQUESTED

With a high-ranking website for many years before going to an exclusively ERISA practice, I regularly get calls from clients seeking help in other matters, such as Social Security Disability, worker’s compensation, wills/successions, family law, employment law and personal injury matters, which I don’t handle. I’d rather direct them to someone I know will represent them well instead of turning them away. No referral fee will be requested.

**Just email help@jpricemcnamara.com with practice areas and cities where referrals would be of interest to you. We’ll put your information into our intake process accordingly. We’ll just email you the prospect’s contact information (with their permission), copying the client and giving them your contact information as well. You can take it from there.

WE SHARE FEES ON REFERRED ERISA LONG-TERM DISABILITY, LIFE INSURANCE AND ACCIDENTAL DEATH INSURANCE DENIAL CASES IN ACCORDANCE WITH BAR ASSOCIATION RULES

I know that ERISA claimants get turned away often because they all tell me the same thing:

“I’ve talked to several attorneys who said they don’t know anyone who handles these claims.”

Most attorneys prefer not to handle occasional ERISA claims because:

1. It’s a Regulatory Minefield.
2. It’s a Strange Administrative Process.
3. It’s ALWAYS in Federal Court with an Odd Procedural Path.
4. The Law is Heavily Tilted Against the Claimant, Employing Arcane
   Trust Law Principles to What Looks Like a Simple Insurance Contract Dispute.

PLUS, evidence not properly filed into the record during the administrative appeal process before suit is filed in federal court can’t even be considered by the judge, and deadlines for doing so come fast. This is where most claimants lose without realizing it.

This is true for all long-term disability, life and accidental death insurance claims governed by ERISA, as most are. They are hard to occasionally “dabble” in if your office processes are geared toward other practice areas you know well.

MAYBE WE’RE CRAZY, BUT WE LIKE THESE ERISA CASES

Our office systems, staff, processes and bench of medical and vocational experts have been built and tweaked strictly for winning the ERISA litigation process with the best client experience.

We’ve handled about every ERISA issue you can imagine, against about every insurance carrier you can name, and have many published federal district court and Fifth Circuit cases.

These claimants typically have long-term debilitating diseases or conditions and are truly sympathetic causes. We will never disappoint you or anyone you refer.

OUR REFERRAL PROCESS IS SIMPLE

Our referral process takes no more time than it takes to simply turn away a caller.

Whenever you refer an ERISA case to us, you will never wonder about its status.

You or your intake staff can just email me the client’s contact information (with their permission) at help@jpricemcnamara.com, copying the client, or just have them contact us directly and tell us you sent them. We’ll take it from there and contact the client immediately.

I’ll personally let you know by response email whether or not we undertake the representation.

If we do not, we’ll copy you by email with our respectful decline letter to the claimant, outlining the reasons, and advising that if they ever need future legal services they should contact you.

If we do, we’ll advance all costs, keep you updated on all settlement negotiations and trial dates by email, discuss strategy along the way, let you know the final resolution and remit the appropriate fee to you, along with a copy of the settlement disbursement statement when resolved.

**We’ll also refer to you the types of cases in cities that you advise us you handle but no referral fee will apply.

HOW YOU OR YOUR STAFF CAN EASILY SPOT AND REFER AN ERISA CASE INSTEAD OF TURNING AWAY A CASE THAT CAN GENERATE FEES FOR YOU

Below is a one page memo that you can copy and share with staff and other members of your firm who handle potential client inquiries to help them easily recognize an ERISA claim.

Instead of just turning them away, they can seamlessly direct the caller here for evaluation by email, copying you, and I’ll proceed in the manner outlined above.

With few exceptions, the Federal ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) statute governs all long-term disability, life and accidental death claims involving insurance policies issued through an employee’s benefits package.

WE TAKE PRIDE IN DOING IT RIGHT

I’m AV rated, and spent several years as an insurance defense attorney after learning the arcane world of ERISA law while serving as a Law Clerk to the late Chief Federal District Court Judge John M. Shaw, W.D. LA.

OUR WORK ON THE ERISA CLAIM OFTEN BENEFITS
OTHER CLAIMS YOU MAY BE HANDLING

The work we do on the ERISA claims often benefits the Social Security, worker’s compensation and personal injury claims as well. We often pay for FCE’s, voc. rehab experts, additional diagnostics and additional physician specialty assessments to build an iron-clad case for disability when handling the ERISA claim. For obvious reasons, we find it beneficial to the client to mutually share this sort of evidence with attorneys representing the same client in other related matters.

***Thanks for reading, and I look forward to receiving your email to help@jpricemcnamara.com, including your practice areas and cities where referrals would interest you. We will put your information into our intake process accordingly.

Sincerely,
Price

P.S.

If you DO like to handle the occasional ERISA claim yourself, call me if you ever want to discuss tactics and strategy. I love discussing this stuff. We’re also happy to share forms, pleadings, briefing, research, CLE materials and everything else we’ve developed over many years.

Better yet, if we co-counsel on one, we’ll walk you through every step of the process.

I also recently published a guide book called How to File a Great Long-Term Disability Administrative Appeal Without Making Common Mistakes That Destroy Good Claims for quick understanding of the ERISA process, and to help claimants and unfamiliar attorneys avoid common pitfalls and build a great administrative appeal (the absolute most important step in the process, but where most claimants drop the ball) after a denial or termination of disability benefits. It’s basically our process mapped out step-by-step. If you’d like a copy, mention that in your email and I’ll mail one to you.

Don’t hesitate to call if you’d like to talk more by phone. I’d also welcome the opportunity to meet with you, discuss any of the above, or share any other thoughts or ideas about our practices and our common goal of making them run and serve better.

NEW POTENTIAL CLIENT INQUIRIES MEMO

ERISA/SHORT-TERM/LONG-TERM DISABILITY
INSURANCE CLAIMS

Potential client callers who say they have been denied short-term or
long-term disability insurance can be referred to attorney Price McNamara.

They may say “I need to file an administrative appeal for a disability insurance denial.”

They may say “I got a denial letter for disability insurance.”

They may say “The insurance company says they’re denying (or stopping or terminating or cutting off) my benefits.”

If the caller has a social security, workers’ comp. or personal injury claim, and are out of work due to injury or illness, ask if they have short-term or long-term disability insurance through their employment. If they do, make note of it.

1. Ask permission to email client’s name and telephone number to help@jpricemcnamara.com, copying client and (Referring Attorney) on the email to Price ONLY for the disability insurance claim.

2. Whether or not client gives the above permission, offer client Price’s office telephone number, 225-201-8311, telling client to let Price know (Referring Attorney) referred the client, ONLY for the disability insurance claim and notify (Referring Attorney) of the referral.

3. Price will notify (Referring Attorney) whether or not he will represent the potential client.