A new Unum disability insurance lawsuit alleges that a man’s benefits were wrongfully denied.

Plaintiff Rickie H. is the latest claimant to allege that the provider of disability benefits has wrongfully denied a legitimate case in which payment should have been made.

Rickie says that he worked for Waste Management Inc. for 39 years as a residual loader. He argues that because of his employment status with that company, he was entitled to participant in the company’s long term disability income policy. The company used Unum to provide this policy and it became effective in January 2005.

The Unum policy required an eligibility waiting period of 90 days of active service. The plaintiff alleges he was classified by Waste Management Inc. as a class 3 employee, meaning in part that he would be entitled to long term disability insurance benefit payments should he become disabled because of sickness or injury and was then unable to perform material duties of his regular job. The plaintiff says his final day of work was March 30, 2017.

The Unum disability insurance lawsuit alleges that a policy had a 180 day elimination period from the date of disability, at which point the policy would pay until age 65 and pay a total of 60 percent of the plaintiff’s salary. Rickie says that this was $39,000 annually; however, Rickie says he only received one long term disability benefit payment for $376.62.

Rickie says he received a notice of denial from Unum on Dec. 29, 2017. The insurance company allegedly argued that the plaintiff was capable of performing material duties of his regular occupation. The plaintiff sent an appeal on March 10, 2018 arguing that the denial was unreasonable and wrong.

A final denial was later sent to the plaintiff on Aug. 24, 2018.

Unum long term disability promises that payments of up to 60 percent of a disabled person’s income will be made for events of serious illness or a covered accident. However, a growing number of lawsuits against Unum allege that the company is attempting to protect their profits by wrongfully denying otherwise legitimate claims.

The Consumer Affairs webpage for Unum gave the insurance company a 1-star rating as of February 2019. The consumer complaints surrounding the approval and payment of benefits included on this Consumer Affairs page fall in line with the growing number of lawsuits alleging that the company has violated the rights of employees who made legitimate claims for disability benefits.

Consumers who buy disability insurance or obtain it through their employer view this as an important safety gap if they were to get hurt or contract a sickness that makes it difficult or impossible for them to continue working.

In theory, disability insurance enables the patient to focus on recovery to the best extent possible, while not having to worry about the payment of owed benefits. However, many applicants for benefits have reportedly discovered that it is an uphill battle to get their payments due to denied claims with Unum.

The Unum Disability Insurance Lawsuit is Case No. 5:19-cv-00595-JLS, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

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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