Travis M. Corby

Corby has had several successes in his specialty: fighting insurance denials in life, health and property cases, but he has also won large negligence cases against non-medical rehabilitation clinics.

The majority of his cases have challenged health insurance companies attempting to withhold coverage for claimants based on what he argues are spurious details.

“Recently I’ve gotten involved with more personal injury and wrongful death cases. I’ve handled five significant cases against drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers,” Corby said.

He recently won a nearly $10.5 million binding arbitration award for a client injured at Sovereign Health of California. Employees of the rehabilitation center allowed the patient, who was in a vulnerable mental state, to pick up his own pain medication. The man took 60 pills during the night, had a seizure and suffered brain injury and a skull fracture that will cause him to need 24-hour care for the rest of his life. Corby’s advocacy helped achieve a finding of negligence by the rehabilitation facility for providing ready access to the medication and failing to advise physicians of the situation. Zachary Peterson v. Dual Diagnosis Treatment Center, Sovereign Health of California ADRS, 16-7891-JWH (L.A Sup. Ct., Filed Feb 8, 2016).

Corby described what he saw as a serious trend in non-medical drug rehabilitation facilities in which staff often treat patients in careless and even dangerous ways. Corby described an upcoming case in which the son of a family he represents had attempted to kill himself in an addiction care facility, an action that requires staff to refer a patient to a medical facility. Instead, staff kicked him out of the care center into the wilderness where he disappeared and was later found dead, Corby said. The facility has since had its license revoked due to similar death cases, but Corby said such practices are all too common.

“Those types of cases are pretty important because people who go through a rough patch with drugs or alcohol get charged an arm and a leg to go there, thinking they’re going to get well and get good care. I see the exact opposite. These facilities are poorly run; all they are worried about are profits over patients,” Corby alleged.

Corby said exorbitant drug testing fees and over-prescription of medication are other factors he contends with.

“My practice has been primarily built on helping consumers fight big insurance companies and I think that work is super important because you’re helping somebody who is powerless,” Corby said. “They can’t afford an hourly lawyer to help them go up against these giant insurance companies.”

— Carter Stoddard