A recent lawsuit claims that a woman’s Unum disability claim was wrongfully denied despite medical evidence of her disabled status.

Before she became disabled, plaintiff Christina M. was reportedly a “multi-tasking, office managing maven.” According to her recent lawsuit against insurance provider Unum, all of these skills were compromised by her “tortured health history” involving persistent pain, fatigue, nausea, foggy-headedness, migraines, and interrupted sleep.

Christina reportedly has “daily” pain that can be “so intense” that she is “unable to think clearly,” even when given epidural injections. She says she takes medications to manage her symptoms but the treatment reportedly results in extreme low blood pressure and dizziness. “I feel like I’m going to pass out on a regular basis,” Christina writes in her lawsuit.

Christina’s hernia mesh allegedly became infected after her surgery in 2007 but went undiagnosed for almost 7 years. In February 2015, after the infection allegedly caused pus to leak from her skin, she claims that she was finally treated for her infected hernia mesh although her doctor was reportedly unable to remove all of the hernia mesh.

All of Christina’s health woes make an extensive list, reportedly including:

• Neurological problems (dizziness, migraines, peripheral neuropathy in the hands and feet)
• Heartbeat abnormalities (atrial tachycardia, supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular trigeminy, t-wave abnormalities, premature atrial complex, premature ventricular complex)
• Cardiac problems (congenital heart disease, malignant hypertension, hyperlipidemia, orthostatic blood pressure, patent foramen)
• Digestion issues (GERD, chronic diarrhea, hernias, diverticulitis, hernias, infected hernia mesh);
• Back problems (congenital scoliosis, tears and bulging of several intervertebral discs, cervical spondylitis, foraminal narrowing, spinal stenosis, facet degeneration, posterior spinal osseous spurring, sciatica)
• Multiple types of pain (arthritis, chronic back pain)
• Type-2 diabetes
• Asthma
• Cataracts

Due to her health problems, Christina says she applied for disability through Unum in December 2011. Unum reportedly made payments for short term disability and own occupation disability benefits.

However, in November 2018, Unum allegedly concluded that Christina’s benefits were limited under mental and nervous disorder provisions in her Unum disability policy. The company reportedly also claimed that she was not eligible for benefits between March 2014 and February 2015.

Christina appealed Unum’s decision, saying that this time was spent struggling with “fever, fatigue, and other flu-like symptoms” associated with her abdominal infection. Unum denied this reasoning, stating:

“[Christina’s] reported symptoms are not consistent from provider to provider and are in excess of the clinical and diagnostic findings. Considering all of her medical conditions, alone and in combination, the claim file evidence does not support Ms. Michaels would be limited from performing her regular sedentary occupation on full-time basis beyond March 27, 2014.”

Christina claims that her benefits should not be terminated by Unum and that she is too disabled to deal work. Because she exhausted all “administrative remedies,” Christina reportedly enlisted the help of a disability attorney and filed her lawsuit against Unum in hopes of restoring her much-needed benefits.

The Unum Disability Lawsuit is Case No. 2:19-at-00599 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

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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