Kantor & Kantor represented a claimant seeking long-term disability benefits based on significant physical impairments that prevented sustained work activity. Treating physicians documented functional limitations affecting the claimant’s ability to stand, walk, and remain physically active for a full workday, rendering consistent employment impossible.
Reliance Standard denied benefits by elevating non-examining file reviewers over treating providers and minimizing clinical findings supporting disability. The insurer framed the dispute as a neutral difference of medical opinion while giving decisive weight to paper reviews that downplayed the claimant’s functional limitations and ignored the longitudinal medical record.
The Fourth Circuit rejected Reliance Standard’s approach and held that courts are not required to defer to insurer-retained reviewers. The decision confirmed that judges may meaningfully weigh competing medical evidence rather than rubber-stamping insurer file reviews, reshaping how disability claims are evaluated throughout the circuit and nationally.
