Led by veteran trial attorney, Matthew Conroy, the attorneys at Schwartz, Conroy and Hack secured a trial victory for a Chiropractor who had been fighting Paul Revere Life Insurance for years (Unum) for his long-term disability benefits.  Â
Dr. Scott Bauman was a chiropractor on Long Island for more than 25 years. During that time, he had become a pillar of the community and ran a very successful practice. Because his burgeoning practice was so physically demanding, Dr. Bauman worked hard to stay in shape. Dr. Bauman boxed, trained regularly at the gym, bicycled, and focused heavily on preparing for endurance events such as marathons.   Â
Unfortunately, while training for the New York Marathon, Dr. Bauman injured his back and required surgery. His back was never really the same again. Undeterred by his surgery, Dr. Bauman pushed through the pain and continued with his busy practice. Ultimately, Dr. Bauman realized that he could only continue in his practice if he rested every other day. Thus, Dr. Bauman worked on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and rested his back on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On the days he did work, Dr. Bauman would take a long lunch break in order to put a heating pad on his back and lay flat on a floor.  Â
Because he suffered a drop in income due to his disability, Dr. Bauman filed a partial disability claim with his long-term disability insurance company, the Paul Revere Life Insurance Company.    Paul Revere paid his partial disability claim for 5 years. Unfortunately for Dr. Bauman, his continued work only exacerbated his back condition. MRI images presented at trial showed that his moderate degenerative back condition in 2010 had escalated to severe degenerative changes in 2018 including permanent nerve damage to his left leg that caused him to limp when he walked. Â
Despite these significant and objectively verified degenerative changes to Dr. Bauman’s back, Paul Revere denied Dr. Bauman’s claim after paying it for five years because it felt, he got better. On the stand, Paul Revere actually argued that Dr. Bauman’s attending physician had previously indicated that Dr. Bauman could never lift 50lbs and, on a more recent, check-a-box, claim form, stated that Dr. Bauman could lift 50lbs 1% of the time.
The jury did not buy into Paul Revere’s flimsy excuses for Dr. Bauman’s claim denial and its unanimous decision in favor of Dr. Bauman 45 minutes after closing arguments.Â
