We win disability benefits for Registered Nurse
Diane was a registered nurse working in Central Kentucky. She injured her low back at work in 1986 while riding in an ambulance. She ceased working and became disabled for Social Security in October 1995. Hartford began paying her disability benefits in 1996. She required surgery and the implantation of a morphine pump for pain. Her doctor said she would be unable to sit for more than one hour at any given time, or more than four hours total during a single day. Hartford hired a neurologist who concluded that Diane could function at a “sedentary level,” even though the doctor did not examine Diane. Then after six years of receiving benefits, Hartford terminated the benefits, claiming she could perform sedentary work. The Federal Judge agreed with Hartford. But Mehr Disability Law Group appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the second highest Court in America. 
Mehr Disability Law Group won Diane’s case, convincing the Sixth Circuit that the medical records would not allow Diane to sit more than one hour at a time. Mehr Law Group emphasized that the U.S. Department of Labor definition for “sedentary job” required sitting most of the day, and there was no evidence that Diane could perform either of these jobs or any sedentary job, because she could not sit for more than four hours a day. The Court noted that Hartford’s decision “disregarded the clear medical evidence in the record.”
We win attorney’s fee also for disabled nurse.
After succeeding in reversing the denial of her benefits, Mehr Law Group went back to court again asking for Hartford to be ordered to pay Diane’s attorney’s fees. This time, the federal Judge awarded Diane Brookings an additional $29,587 for attorney’s fees.
Link to Forrester opinion
