Most of the attorneys I know, and keep on my referral list, know that I do not support a referral to them unless their fees are reasonable. That is, until recently. With the advent today of more and more claim denials, insureds (not clients necessarily) are asking for referrals to good ERISA attorneys.
When I begin hearing back from my phone callers that referred attorneys are now asking from $6,000-$20,000 upfront to take their cases, I can’t remove those attorneys fast enough from my lists. I know that ERISA appeals are time consuming to work on, but asking anyone today to pay $20,000 upfront is, in my opinion, an insult to injury. While in the past attorneys opted for the 20% back/30% forward fee structure, it now seems that even they are trying to take advantage of the current tendency of insurers to deny more claims by adding thousands of dollars to their pockets.
Does it even make sense to you that in today’s financial economic downturn that ERISA people, representing the working class, are going to be able to pay such outrageous fees? I used to teach cost accounting and marketing at the college level; what happened to scoping out your market and capping fees based on the geographical location, culture and station of your client base? Attorneys see these $20,000/month group benefits and think the claimants are wealthy when in fact they are not.
Please be aware that as of today I am removing the attorneys who are charging these expensive fees from my referral list. If you are an attorney, and are still charging reasonable fees and want my business referrals please send me an email. But, I will not continue to refer ERISA folks to attorneys gouging people for thousands of dollars. It’s not going to happen, and you attorneys out there know I come in contact with lots of people.
To the claimants and insureds who are out there, please note that information I have is that Unum is not overturning denials, and I suspect that other insurance companies are doing the same. It is far better NOT to have a claim denial in the first place. If you need assistance to do everything you can to prevent a denial, then please call me when you suspect the insurer is targeting you. Once denied, it’s too late for me to help you, and your only alternative is to either file an appeal yourself, or retain an attorney you can’t afford. Remember, the best appeal is NOT to have a denial in the first place.
But, please don’t allow an attorney to charge you unreasonable fees.$20,000 upfront for an ERISA appeal is highway robbery and the robber is definitely not your advocate.
