Kushner
Kushner v. Lehigh Cement Co.
Opinion
Opinion
Snyder, J.
AMENDED ORDER DENYING LONG-TERM DISABILITY BENEFITS
This case was tried to the Court on July 25, 2008. Charles J. Fleishman appeared for plaintiff and Melissa M. Cowan of Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP appeared for defendant Life Insurance Company of North America (“LINA”). Having carefully considered the administrative record and the arguments of the parties, the Court finds and concludes as follows:
I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Plaintiff Fred Kushner was employed by defendant Lehigh Cement Company (“Le-high”) as a Senior System Business Analyst. In connection with his employment, plaintiff was insured by a long term disability (“LTD”) policy, policy number FLK 0030077, issued by LINA.
Plaintiff underwent heart surgery in January 2004. Following surgery on June 7, 2004, plaintiffs cardiologist, Lee Dyks-tra, M.D., found that plaintiff remained totally disabled from his occupation until August 7, 2004, because he could not do the traveling that was supposedly required by his job. AR 305.
Six weeks later, on July 23, 2004, after the elimination period under the LTD policy had already expired, plaintiff reported to Dr. Dykstra that he was doing margin ally better, but that he was now…