A Michigan resident and insurance policy holder says her Unum long term disability benefits were unjustly ended, even though she provided reasonable proof of her disability.

Plaintiff Tamara F. says that she had an Unum disability insurance policy through her employer, Honlgman Miller Schwards and Cohn LLP, where she worked as a Central Services/Facilities Coordinator at the company. Allegedly, she was diagnosed with a range of conditions that rendered her disabled and unable to work in 2017.

She says that her conditions should have qualified her for disability benefits, but that Unum wrongfully terminated her short term benefits that same 2017.

Tamara’s Unum long term disability benefits lawsuit is one of many that the company has faced recently, from policy holders claiming that the insurance company wrongfully denied long and short term benefits to those who need them and are qualified to receive benefits. 

In 2003, the LA Times reported on a lawsuit of a similar nature, indicating that Unum may have been denying policy holders the benefits they were due for over 15 years. In 2018, more than a decade later, issues with Unum were still in the news, as Bloomberg reported that Unum was required to revise a benefit denial for a widower whose wife died of a prescription drug overdose. 

Unum Lawsuit Complaints

According to Tamara, her benefits were terminated on July 11, 2017, and Unum upheld that decision on Sept. 8, 2017. Allegedly, when Unum terminated her short term disability benefits, they also limited her ability to receive long-term disability under the policy.

She says that the decision to terminate her benefits was wrongfully made because when the company canceled her benefits, she was still suffering from conditions that rendered her disabled and prevented her from returning to work.  Tamara claims that she was diagnosed with numerous conditions that prevented her from working, including “neuralgia, low back pain, spinal stenosis, intervertebral disc disorder, anxiety disorder, panic attacks and spondylolisthesis.”

She goes on to say her treating physicians deemed her unable to complete her usual work duties, as these disabilities prevented her from performing the “majority of the material duties of her regular occupation,” as well as work in any and all other occupations.

Tamara’s Unum long term disability benefits lawsuit joins thousands of others. Her suit claims that Tamara was financially injured by Unum’s actions and seeks damages in the amount of her benefits owed since her benefits were canceled, statutory interest on the allegedly owed benefits, and penalty interest on the allegedly owed benefits, as well as attorney fees, and other fees allowed by law.

Allegedly, the company should have paid her more short term disability benefits than it did, and should have paid her long-term disability benefits, but did not at all.

Tamara claims that based on her company policy, Unum “became obligated to pay [her] certain expenses or losses in the event [she] sustained an injury or illness that resulted in her disability from employment and/or inability to work for extended periods of time.”

She argues that the company practiced bad faith insurance and breached the policy by terminating her benefits. Moreover, her Unum long term disability benefits lawsuit argues that she provided reasonable proof of her illness and disability, and provided proof of her employment disability, but the company denied her coverage nonetheless.

The Unum Long Term Disability Benefits Lawsuit is Case 2:19-cv-10362-VAR-RSW, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division.

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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