Disability insurance claimants are often told by disability insurance companies that their claim has been reviewed by an "independent" medical expert. Of course, these "independent" experts are not truly independent and the United States Supreme Court has ruled that their financial relationship (and its duration) can be considered in assessing the insurance company's claims process.  Another factor that indicates bias in the claims process is where the insurance company "give[s] information to regular independent contractor-consultants that portrays the claimant in a negative light" the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled in Sherry DeLisle v. Sun Life Assurance Company, No. 08-1142 (March 4, 2009).