Our Disability Attorneys
- Eric L. Buchanan
- R. Scott Wilson
- D. Seth Holliday
- Jeremy L. Bordelon
- Julie E. Moya
- Scott Riemer, Of Counsel
Eric L. Buchanan
Eric Buchanan represents disabled people and other policyholders across the United States in both ERISA and non-ERISA disputes, focusing primarily in the areas of disability, life, and health insurance. He also represents disabled people before the Social Security Administration, having represented approximately 1,150 people in Social Security hearings.
In 2007, Eric Buchanan was certified as a specialist in Social Security Disability Law by the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization. In 2008, he was selected by the National Board of Legal Specialty Certification to be an examiner for the National Board of Social Security Disability Certification Exam. Eric has also been peer-review rated “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell for 2007, 2008, and 2009. He has also represented hundreds of people in federal court lawsuits involving Social Security and ERISA disputes.
Eric Buchanan regularly chairs conferences and speaks to both national and local audiences on disability insurance, ERISA, insurance law, and Social Security disability. He has been the program chair and speaker for the 2008 AAJ Social Security Section National CLE in Las Vegas, has twice been program chair and speaker at the AAJ (formerly ATLA) Annual Convention’s Disability Law program, has twice been program chair and a speaker for the Tennessee Bar Association’s Disability law conference, has been program chair and speaker for several Tennessee Association for Justice CLE’s on Social Security disability and on ERISA litigation.
Eric graduated from the Washington and Lee University School of Law Magna Cum Laude in the top 10% of his class. Eric is also a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1989 to 1994 where he served as a naval aviator (pilot), plane commander, and mission commander of P-3C Orion aircraft.
R. Scott Wilson
Scott Wilson's practice since 1998 has been principally dedicated to disability benefits law, including both Social Security disability benefits claims and ERISA-governed long term disability insurance claims.
Scott is a 1998 graduate of Washington and Lee University Law School. He graduated cum laude and was a member of the Law Review. He previously received a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Davis.
Scott has extensive experience representing claimants at all levels of the Social Security appeals process. He has represented claimants at over 1300 hearings. He has written numerous briefs to Social Security's Appeals Council, and been the principal brief-writer on over a hundred Social Security cases appealed into the federal courts. Since 2008, Scott has been certified as a specialist in Social Security Disability Law by the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization.
Scott also regularly represents claimants seeking long term disability insurance benefits, including both pre-litigation appeals to insurers and lawsuits in federal court. Scott was the lead brief-writer in Cooper v. Life Ins. Co. of North America, 486 F.3d 157 (6th Cir. 2007), as well as a number of un-published cases successfully challenging denials and terminations of ERISA-governed long term disability insurance benefits. Scott is licensed in Tennessee, and admitted to the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Tennessee, as well as the Sixth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Scott has spoken at both national and local continuing legal education programs on Social Security disability and ERISA long term disability insurance cases. Scott is the current president of the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers' Association, and is chair-elect of the Social Security section of the American Association for Justice (formerly American Trial Lawyers' Association).
D. Seth Holliday
Seth Holliday is dedicated to representing the seriously injured or impaired in disability litigation. He has built his legal career on the principle of aggressively pursuing full and complete compensation for all his clients. Seth is certified as a Social Security Disability Specialist by the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization.
Seth is a 1996 graduate of Washington University School of Law and he initially practiced in Chicago, Illinois. There, in the personal injury context, he had a principal role in obtaining three awards which were confirmed by the local jury verdict reporter as being the highest on record in the State of Illinois in their respective category.
Seth is an experienced litigator who practices before federal, state and administrative courts at their trial and appellate levels. He has also taught trial advocacy at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, Illinois, as well as business law at Chattanooga State Technical Community College, as an adjunct professor. Seth has lectured on the topic of personal injury and regularly lectures on disability issues to such organizations as the Tennessee Bar Association, the Tennessee Association for Justice, the National Business Institute, and the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association. Seth is past-President of the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association, which is an association of trial lawyers who advocate on behalf of injured individuals.
Seth is currently licensed in both Tennessee and Illinois and is a member of the American Association for Justice, the Tennessee Association for Justice, the Tennessee Bar Association (and is a member of its Access to Justice Committee), and the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association. At the law firm of Eric Buchanan & Associates he primarily litigates long-term disability cases (both ERISA and state breach of contract claims) as well as Social Security disability claims and has represented over 1,000 claimants at Social Security administrative hearings and has submitted numerous briefs to the Appeals Council and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
Each week, Seth provides several hours of free legal services to a variety of charitable organizations in Chattanooga, including Chattanooga Cares, the Community Kitchen, and Legal Aid of East Tennessee (where he serves on the Pro Bono Committee). Seth is also a member of the Board of Directors for Hospice of Chattanooga.
Jeremy L. Bordelon
Jeremy Bordelon has worked for Eric Buchanan & Associates since 2004, first as the firm’s litigation paralegal while earning his Legal Assistant Studies degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and continuing part-time while enrolled in law school. Jeremy graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2009, magna cum laude, where he was awarded the three-year William M. Leech, Jr. Memorial Scholarship and earned Academic Excellence awards in Administrative Law, Advanced Legal Research, and Advanced Appellate Advocacy. In addition to Social Security disability hearings, his duties over the years have included research and writing on many other aspects of the firm’s practice, including Social Security EAJA fees, ERISA discovery, ERISA motions for judgment, and bad faith insurance claims. Jeremy has attended national CLEs on Social Security and disability insurance, and presented on the topic of Tennessee insurance law for the Tennessee Association for Justice. Jeremy spent eight years in the U.S. Navy before law school as an enlisted Cryptologic Technician, achieving the rank of Petty Officer First Class.
Julie E. Moya
Julie Moya is a former Assistant State Attorney for Miami-Dade County. As an Assistant State Attorney, she was responsible for hundreds of cases, and co-lead prosecution in two courtrooms. Ms. Moya also ran a solo criminal defense practice in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before joining the office of Eric Buchanan and Associates. In law school, Ms. Moya was one of the few students to complete three student legal practice programs at the University of Tennessee College of Law. She worked in the Pro-Bono Clinic, Domestic Violence Clinic, and as a Kolwyck Public Interest Fellow in the capacity of an Assistant District Attorney. Ms. Moya also competed in the Advocates Prize and Jenkins Prize Competitions, which include trial work, appellate briefs, and appellate argument. Ms. Moya also has an extensive list of internships from institutional development to the Office of a United States Senate Majority Leader.
Scott Riemer, Of Counsel
www.riemerlawfirm.com
Scott M. Riemer is the founding member of Riemer & Associates, LLC in New York City. Scott started the Firm in 1994. Scott is a nationally-recognized expert in long term disability claims, litigation and class actions. Scott has narrowly focused his practice in order to provide his clients with the highest-quality, most innovative and caring legal representation available.
Scott represents clients at all stages of the disability claim process. He plans exit strategies from work, assists clients in completing disability applications, files internal appeals with insurance companies if benefits are denied or terminated, and brings litigations in court.
Scott has litigated many cases against Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Company. As a result, he is in possession of a wealth of information as to the functioning of the company. He is well positioned to actively litigate issues pertaining to Hartford’s inherent conflict of interest as evaluator and payor of claims.
At the January 12, 2009 annual meeting of the NYC Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Scott was awarded with the Chapter’s Public Education Award. The award honored his volunteer services for Chapter members and his pro bono efforts to make the procedures used for long-term disability insurance more equitable for those disabled with multiple sclerosis.
Scott was the recipient of the prestigious Courageous Plaintiff Attorney Award presented by the National Employment Lawyers Association of New York in October 2000. The award was given jointly to Scott and his client honoring their long and arduous battle to defeat an HMO's attempt to deny life-sustaining nursing care to the insured. The case is an important legal precedent establishing the right to home nursing care.
Scott began his career in the employee benefits department of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler. In 1989, he shifted his practice to litigation, becoming the principal litigator in the ERISA Litigation Group of Schoeman, Updike & Kaufman where he remained until starting his own firm in 1994.
Scott writes extensively in the field, lectures on ERISA topics and is often quoted in the media. Scott is a 1983 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.
