Understanding and Handling Long Term Disability Liens

Donald de Camara is a sole practitioner in San Marcos, CA specializing in lien litigation and resolution. He has lectured at well over 120 trial lawyers’ seminars throughout California about liens and has presented four nationwide webinars on ERISA liens. He has had dozens of articles on liens published in various trial lawyer magazines. He was lead counsel for the eight defendants in the case of Carpenters Health v. Vonderharr, 384 F.3d 667 (2004), cert. denied 126 S.Ct. 729 (2005), establishing that defendants prevailing in litigation with their ERISA plan are equally as entitled as plaintiffs to the strong “special circumstances” presumption in favor of an award of attorneys fees. He briefed and argued AC Houston v. Berg, 407 Fed. Appx. 208 (9th Cir. 2010) as amicus counsel for CAOC in the 9th Cir., resulting in the court reversing the district court judgment holding a plaintiff’s attorney liable on an ERISA lien. He was also lead counsel for defendant in the case of Aetna Health Ins. of CA vs. Cianciulli (2025 US Dist Lexis, 75368, where Aetna’s complaint on its insured ERISA reimbursement lien of $1.134 million was dismissed with prejudice by the federal court for failure to waive the make whole rule.