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Unum Life Insurance Company of America is being sued by an Ohio woman who claims the company wrongfully denied her long-term disability insurance claim.
Plaintiff Peggy B. has been an employee at Ohio State University (OSU) since 1997, and through this employer has been a participant of Unum’s long-term disability program since 2006. In that year, “Unum issued a long-term disability policy to OSU . . . [which] provides a monthly benefit payment to an eligible employee of OSU in the event the eligible employee becomes disabled and unable to work,” according to the Unum lawsuit.
As an eligible employee under the Unum policy issued to OSU, Peggy is the intended third party of the Unum disability insurance policy, and is therefore entitled to the benefits provided by this long-term disability plan.
The Unum lawsuit claims that back in October 2011 Peggy became disabled and could not work at her previous position at OSU. Soon after becoming disabled, Peggy applied for short-term disability benefits and was approved by Unum. Consequently, Peggy also applied for long-term disability benefits through her Unum policy. Peggy’s LTD application and her disability were supported by several different doctors. However, despite the evidence supporting her application, Peggy’s Unum long term disability benefits application was denied.
Peggy appealed Unum’s decision to deny her long-term disability insurance benefits application, which was once again denied by the insurance company. On Jan. 28, 2013, Peggy filed her first Unum bad faith insurance lawsuit, claiming she had exhausted all other administrative remedies through Unum Life Insurance. A year later in June, this Unum lawsuit was dismissed because of Peggy’s bankruptcy, and both plaintiff and defendant agreed to dismiss the case without prejudice.
However, Peggy is now reviving her Unum lawsuit, and brings forth allegations of breach of contract and bad faith against Unum. She is seeking compensatory damages, an amount which has yet to be determined by the court but that she expects to be no less than $95,000. Peggy is also seeking punitive damages no less than $95,000, as well as pre and post-judgement interest, attorney’s fees and costs, and any other forms of relief so deemed fit by the court.
The Unum Lawsuit is Case No. 2:15-cv-02615-ALM-TPK, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Unum Disability Benefits Denial Practices
It is estimated that almost 40 percent of all disability insurance policies issued in the United States are handled by Unum Life Insurance or by Unum Provident, and they are therefore responsible for providing 17 million Americans with disability insurance. However, many plaintiffs allege Unum has abused its power as an insurer by systematically denying policyholders’ disability insurance in order to profit from the collected premiums that are allegedly never paid back to consumers.
According to a 60 Minutes television segment, Unum has established a monthly claim-denial quota for its employees, and also allegedly rewards claims adjusters who meet this goal by denying injured and disabled policyholders the benefits due to them under the Unum policyholder.
A former Unum physician claims he was allegedly fired by Unum after he refused to deny benefits to qualifying policyholders. Other former Unum in-house physicians have also come forward, claiming they were instructed to review medical records for Unum disability claims and falsely state the policyholder was in fact not disabled, even if this contradicted the medical evidence provided.
Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The bad faith insurance attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual lawsuit or Unum class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, Unum bad faith lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.
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