Our client Mr Pan stopped working in 1999 and has not worked since then due to a work-related injury to his back resulting in chronic pain and restrictions in his movement. He was receiving Workers Compensation, but that was ceased in 2017 due to the changes in Workers Compensation Legislation.
Our client had a feeling that he may have held Total Permanent Disability (TPD) insurance when he was working in 1999. However, because it was such a long time ago, he was not sure and could not find records of it anywhere.
He contacted his Life Insurer and made enquiries about his TPD insurance at the time of the incident in 1999. His insurer simply told him they could not find any insurance cover in 1999 for our client. Our client then approached another law firm to help him with this matter. The law firm tried contacting the Life Insurer, but they failed to find any evidence of whether Mr Pan had any TPD insurance cover in 1999.
Mr Pan then searched for an experienced TPD Lawyer and found Shaheen Legal via our website. When Mr Pan contacted us, we had an initial consultation and decided to take on his matter to lodge a TPD claim.
We understood the financial hardship Mr Pan was going through particularly because he had stopped receiving Worker’s Compensation payouts since 2017. He could not work in any other jobs as his injury restricts his movements and sitting positions. He was only receiving small amount of Centrelink benefits for day to day expenses.
We offered Mr Pan our services on a No Win No Fee basis. In simple terms, we will not charge him any fees if we lose this matter. And if we win, then we will only request for our fees once the case settles. Mr Pan was quite happy with this plan.
Our solicitor then got to work. We rigorously investigated all of Mr Pan’s records and had a constant follow up with the Life insurer. They again told us that they do not have any history of Mr Pan having any TPD insurance cover in 1999. We requested to see his whole file from the insurer. We reviewed his records from 1999 till 2019 and discovered that Mr Pan did have TPD insurance cover in 1999.
We, therefore, made strong submissions with evidence confirming that Mr Pan had TPD insurance in 1999. After going back and forth several times, they finally accepted that Mr Pan did have TPD Insurance cover in 1999.
The next step was to prove that Mr Pan has a Permanent and Total Disability restricting him from working again. It had been 20 years since Mr Pan had returned to work. Although the life insurer did want to explore whether he had any functional capacity to work despite his physical and mental limitations. We knew the insurer would be challenging to deal with in this matter, and especially we already proved them wrong about Mr Pan having a life insurance cover.
To fast track this matter, we collated Mr Pan’s income tax return from 1999 till now to demonstrate that he has not been employed or earnt any income since his injury in 1999. We also provided his complete medical records confirming he was on Workers Compensation from 1999 up until 2017, a medical report from his current GP and strong submissions asserting that Mr Pan was totally and permanently disabled. Therefore, he should be entitled to his TPD claim.
The insurer was slow in responding, but meanwhile, our client’s frustration was affecting his health. He escalated this matter to the insurer’s internal team review for a quick response. After our many phone calls, emails and letters, the insurer finally accepted our submissions and accepted Mr Pan’s TPD claim of $110,000.
So from not knowing whether he had TPD insurance cover from 1999 (20 years ago) then going through other law firms who could not assist him in the matter yet charged him fees to finally coming to Shaheen Legal for TPD expertise and getting the TPD lump sum insurance cover of $110,000, we must say this was a great winning story for our client and us.
Mr Pan feedback was:
“I don’t know how you were able to get 20 years old records from the insurer and then on top of that winning this TPD cover for me… your team truly defines what legal representation should be! I cannot thank enough to Owais and Shaheen Legal for assisting me with my TPD matter. Plus, their offer to work on No Win No Fee basis was such a huge relief for me. Thank you so so much, you guys really went above and beyond!”
We love sharing these wonderful, rewarding stories with you all.
We know how to win injury-related compensation matters and love it when our client is happy with the outcome.
If you or someone you was injured or ill and as a result can no longer work then, please contact us. We are sure to assist you, and if we can’t, then we will be confident enough to put you in the right direction.
If you have injury or illness restriction you from working then make sure to contact us on 02 9854 5552 or email us at info@shaheen.com.au
