A South Dakota woman says Unum Life Insurance Company of America wrongfully terminated her long-term disability benefits.

Plaintiff Kim J. is seeking reinstatement of her Unum long-term disability benefits. She says Unum improperly cut off payment of benefits in 2015 and threatened to pursue collection of an alleged overpayment.

According to her Unum Group lawsuit, Kim is the beneficiary of a disability insurance policy provided by Unum. Under terms of the policy, Unum pays up to 60 percent of her monthly earnings for up to 19 years if she becomes unable to perform her own occupation due to disability.

Kim says her disabilities began to give her trouble in March 2012, when she began experiencing painful symptoms of a possible spinal condition.

She made a claim with Unum for short-term and long-term disability, plus an accident claim to cover her then-undiagnosed spinal condition. Unum denied the accident claim but granted the short-term disability claim and began paying Kim benefits.

In September 2012, Unum granted Kim’s claim for long-term disability benefits and began making monthly payments of $1132. Unum also waived its right to Kim’s premium payments during the time it was paying her disability benefits.

That spring, an imaging study of Kim’s abdomen revealed what one doctor believed was an “obliterated” lumbar disc. Other doctors thought that estimation was an exaggeration – even though Kim continued to have painful spine symptoms.

In June 2012, an MRI of Kim’s spine revealed results that she describes as “devastating.” She searched for a neurologist to treat her, finally settling on Laser Spine Institute of Arizona. She underwent spinal surgery there in September 2012.

Unum Group Lawsuit Claims Breach of Contract, Defamation

In March 2014, a hearing before a Social Security administrative law judge resulted in a finding that Kim’s work capacity was “less than sedentary,” limiting her to simple, routine and repetitive tasks.

But after that decision from Social Security, Kim says, Unum started taking steps to cut off her Unum benefits, according to her Unum Group lawsuit.

Unum told Kim that a medical opinion on which Social Security had relied was completed by a physical therapist’s assistant, when it should have been completed by her treating physician. Unum said the severe limitations listed in that medical opinion were not documented in any other of her treatment records.

In May 2014, Unum told Kim that due to a successful Social Security claim, she had received over $14,000 in overpayments from Unum – overpayments that the company now intended to collect.

In August 2014, Unum notified her that she no longer qualified for disability payments. Kim says she appealed that decision, but her appeal was denied. She says her benefits were terminated in January 2015.

Kim now argues that by terminating her benefit payments, Unum has breached its duties to her under the terms of her policy. Her Unum Group lawsuit raises claims for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and violation of the South Dakota Unfair Trade Practices Act.

She is also bringing a claim for defamation, alleging that Unum improperly accused her of trying to fraudulently keep her benefit payments coming.

Kim’s Unum Group Lawsuit is Case No. 4:17-cv-4004, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota.