Long Term Disability Attorneys DarrasLaw

Lissa A. Martinez represents individual and group policyholders in disability, long-term care and life insurance bad faith actions and group ERISA matters. She specializes in ERISA litigation and heads up the firm's Law and Motion Department. Martinez is a Super Lawyer Rising Star and is co-author of many articles on the topic of disability and long-term care insurance, including:
- Disability Insurance: Individual Disability Dollars or Litigation Disaster
- Combating a Disability Carrier's Efforts to Dictate an Insured's Medical Care: Whose Body is it Anyway
- How to Perfect Your Insurance Claim and What to do if You are Denied
- Defeating the Disability Carrier's Top Ten Defenses
- Long-Term Care Insurance: The Next Generation of Bad Faith Litigation
- Suing Health Care Providers and Insurers - Bad Faith and Other Claims

Ms. Martinez' notable decisions include Hubka v. Paul Revere Life Insurance Co., 214 F. Supp. 2d 1089 (S.D. Cal. 2002) (denying insurer's motion for summary judgment regarding bad faith and punitive damages) Arnett v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Co., 2006 WL 5781982 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 19. 2006) (awarding pre-judgment interest in an ERISA action at rate of 10% per annum pursuant to California Insurance Code § 10111.2); Arnett v. Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Co., 558 F. Supp. 2d 975 (C.D. Cal. 2007) (awarding attorneys' fees); Staffeld v. Prudential Insurance Co., 2007 WL 1975448 (S.D. Cal. June 11, 2007) (denying insurer's motion for summary judgment in ERISA benefits case); Garrison v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., 558 F. Supp. 2d 995 (C.D. Cal. 2008) (finding ERISA plan administrator abused its discretion in denying LTD benefits).

Before she began practicing law, Ms. Martinez was a licensed insurance agent with a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation, during which time she sold and marketed individual and group disability insurance policies for Provident Life & Accident Insurance Company. This experience is the basis of her expertise in insurance policy analysis and provides her with valuable insight into the disability insurance business.

Ms. Martinez is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central, Eastern and Southern Districts of California, and the California state courts. She is a member of the American Association for Justice, American Bar Association, The Litigation Section of the State Bar of California, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles and Consumer Attorneys of California.

Susan B. Grabarsky represents individual and group policyholders in disability, health, property, casualty, and business insurance bad faith actions. Ms. Grabarsky is Lead Counsel Rated in Insurance Law, has been featured as the insurance law expert at national conferences for the disability community, has served as guest speaker on professional liability panels at law schools, and has addressed physicians and patients regarding insurance issues. She has lectured on medical cost-containment and disability management issues for claims professionals.

Ms. Grabarsky's expertise is based on her experience as a cost-containment analyst for major insurance companies and large self-insured employers in California. While attending law school on scholarships, she worked full-time in the insurance industry. She recognized the myriad of ways the claims process can go wrong. She handled medical claim reviews, property and casualty claim valuations, and attended hearings on behalf of insurance carriers. Early in her legal career, she worked for insurance defense firms handling property, casualty and medical malpractice cases. But after her first Superior Court jury trial victory representing a plaintiff, she realized that her heart was not in defending big insurance companies. For the last decade, she has been representing policyholders exclusively in their fights to obtain wrongfully denied insurance benefits. She says that she sleeps better now, knowing she is working on "the right side" of battles with big insurance bureaucracy.

Ms. Grabarsky was also an Adjunct Professor of Law at her alma mater, Western State University, where she received her J.D. cum laude and was a law review editor. During law school, she had the honor of serving as a Judicial Extern for Presiding Justice David G. Sills, of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District.

Ms. Grabarsky is admitted to practice in all California State and Federal District Courts. She is a member of the American Association for Justice, American Bar Association, The Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of California, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, Consumer Attorneys of California, and the Joseph B. Campbell American Inn of Court. In addition, Ms. Grabarsky is a Court Appointed Special Advocate for foster youth with extraordinary challenges and regularly volunteers for disability-related causes.

Heather Conner represents policyholders in individual disability, ERISA short-term and long-term disability and long-term care actions. Ms. Conner prepares clients' administrative appeals in their ERISA claims in an attempt to restore clients' benefits without the need for litigation. In addition, Ms. Conner works with Frank Darras on complex individual disability and ERISA litigation matters.

Ms. Conner reviews new client referrals and meets with policyholders to assist and evaluate their potential actions against their individual or group insurance carriers.

A native of New York, Ms. Conner first became interested in the legal profession after taking part in her high school's mock trial of the Watergate hearings. Her experience playing the lead prosecutor for the United States lead to a realization — she had found a career. With this plan in mind, Ms. Conner received a Bachelor's degree in English from Binghamton University prior to attending law school at the University of Akron. While in law school, Ms. Conner sought opportunities that exposed her to a variety of different types of law. She interned with general counsel for a large health system. She clerked for a criminal defense lawyer and volunteered as a guardian ad litem through the juvenile foster care system.

Following law school graduation, Ms. Conner moved to Seattle, Washington. She sat for the State Bar of Washington and subsequently worked as an insurance defense attorney. In March of 2002 Ms. Conner moved to California with her husband and began her career with DarrasLaw.