PEI Long-Term Disability Lawyers

On an individual disability policy in PEI, the statutory conditions under the Insurance Act, RSPEI 1988, c I-4, set a one-year deadline from when the benefit became payable, and a policy can shorten or lengthen it. Group claims fall under the Statute of Limitations. Deadlines can be as short as one year, so check the policy and act early.

The letter says the medical information no longer supports total disability, sets an end date a few weeks away, and invites you to appeal within ninety days. The letter does not say that the Statute of Limitations, RSPEI 1988, c S-7 started a limitation period running the day it was signed, or that the appeal it invites does not stop that period. A PEI long-term disability lawyer reads the letter as the beginning of a lawsuit.

Most Island Plans Switch to the Any-Occupation Test at Twenty-Four Months

Almost every group plan sold on Prince Edward Island pays for the first twenty-four months if you cannot do your own job. After that it pays only if you cannot do any job that fits your education and experience. The termination arrives with a vocational report listing positions in Charlottetown or Summerside that the report says a person with your restrictions could hold. A dispatcher. A parking attendant. A call-centre agent. The report never asks whether anyone is hiring, whether you could get through a shift, or whether you could keep the job for a month. The answer is a vocational opinion of your own, built on the Island’s real labour market, and the treating specialists’ evidence on what your restrictions are.

Insurers Terminate on Conditions That No Scan Shows

Chronic pain, fibromyalgia, post-concussion syndrome, depression and anxiety are conditions that no scan shows. Insurers call that a lack of objective evidence and terminate on it. The Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island, like every court in the country, accepts a treating physician’s clinical findings as evidence of disability, and the opinion of a file reviewer who never met you does not carry more weight than those findings. Surveillance, a video of you carrying a bag of groceries or sitting at a child’s hockey game, is answered with the medical record of what the next day looked like.

What a PEI Long-Term Disability Lawyer Gets Back

The benefits owed since the cut-off, with interest. A settlement for the future, as a lump sum or a declaration that payments resume. Where the handling was unreasonable, damages for the distress caused and punitive damages. Most Island files resolve at a settlement conference once the medical evidence is in order.

CPP Disability, WCB PEI and Section B Are Deducted From the Plan

Nearly every plan makes you apply for Canada Pension Plan disability and subtracts what it pays. A CPP approval is also evidence in your favour. Insurers deduct WCB PEI benefits and Section B weekly indemnity after a crash as well. The three have to be coordinated so the offsets do not open a gap.

Should I File the Insurer’s Appeal First?

Only if time remains and you have something new to add. An appeal that repeats the same records gives the insurer months and gives you no benefit.

My Employer Terminated Me While I Was on Claim.

That termination is a separate claim against the employer, and the disability claim continues. The settlement terms need to be assessed together so that settling one does not release the other.

Will I Have to Pay Tax on a Settlement?

If your employer paid any of the premium, the benefits are taxable and the settlement is structured with that in mind. If you paid the whole premium, they are not.

For the policy language common to every Atlantic plan, read the CPP disability decision and our long-term disability guide.

No Fee Unless the Claim Resolves

The first call is free. There is no fee unless the claim resolves. Contact us, or read what we can do.