A California woman filed a bad faith insurance lawsuit against Unum Life Insurance Company, alleging the company illegally cut off her benefits.

Plaintiff Louann K. worked as an executive administrative assistant at Northrop Grumman since 2004. Her employment entitled her to be a participant in a long-term disability benefits plan.

In June 2012, Louann became disabled and filed a claim with Unum for long-term disability benefits under the terms of her plan. Unum originally approved Louann’s claim for long-term disability benefits.

However, according to the Unum lawsuit, the insurance provider denied Louann’s on-going disability benefits in November 2013, even thought she continues to remain disabled as defined by her Unum insurance plan.

Louann filed an administrative appeal of Unum’s bad faith insurance denial but Unum denied her claim, thereby exhausting her appeals. Louann also claims that Unum did not provide any reasonable explanation of why her appeal was not considered.

Because Louann has exhausted all administrative remedies required under ERISA, she filed this Unum lawsuit, seeking coverage for past and ongoing disability benefits, interest on past due disability benefits as well as attorney’s fees.

Unum Bad Faith Insurance

The Unum Corporation was formerly known as Unum Provident and currently includes a number of smaller insurance companies, including:

• Accident Insurance Company (“Provident”)
• First Unum Life Insurance Company
• Provident Life
• The Paul Revere Life Insurance Company (“Revere”)
• Unum Life Insurance Company of America

The company has faced numerous bad faith insurance lawsuits.

“Bad faith” is a legal term that refers to anything an insurance company does in an effort to deny or minimize the payments on a legitimate claim. Specifically, Unum has been reported to act in bad faith insurance practices by:

• Refusing to acknowledge a policyholder’s disability
• Denying payment for legitimate claims (particularly those that require high payouts)
• Misusing policyholders’ medical records
• Changing policies retroactively (when claims are filed)
• Defining “disability” incorrectly to deny claims

It’s important to note, however, that bad faith insurance can come in a variety of forms, including improperly investigating claims, devaluing damages and claims, excessively delaying the investigation and/or payment of claims.

Unum Disability Benefits Lawsuits

Unum and its subsidiaries have been subject to numerous insurance claim denial lawsuits for allegedly illegally refusing to pay valid disability benefits claims.

Unum policyholders have filed Unum disability benefits lawsuits against the insurance company for allegedly practicing bad faith insurance and denying their Unum long-term disability benefits insurance.

The Unum Disability Benefits Lawsuit is Case No. 3:15-cv-01384-BAS-JMA, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.