Alabama plaintiff Clarissa J. Martin filed a bad faith insurance lawsuit against Unum Life Insurance Company for wrongfully denying her long-term disability benefits, alleging that Unum wrongfully cut off her disability payments a little after she started receiving Social Security benefits.

According to the disability insurance lawsuit, Martin was previously employed by Russeville Medical Center. She had been working full-time hours and had worked a certain number of years to obtain full employment benefits. She claims in her Unum lawsuit that along with long-term and short-term disability benefits, Martin was also eligible for benefits under Unum’s Premium Waiver policy, in the event of a disability resulting from an injury or illness.

Martin reportedly suffers from multiple medical conditions that prevent her from working in a similar occupation, or in any employment field at all. Her conditions were diagnosed and documented by her doctor, who established that she was unable to work. According to the Unum lawsuit, Martin filed her claim for long-term disability benefits and her premium waiver, and was initially approved by Unum. Martin says she received monthly payments from Unum from Jan. 20, 2007 until she was ultimately cut off on Jan. 26, 2012.

During her claim and appeal process in filing with Unum, Martin had also applied for Social Security benefits, and she was approved to receive them in May 2008. Several years later, Unum terminated Martin’s long-term benefits and premium waiver payments for unexplained reasons, the disability insurance lawsuit states.

Despite following all administrative procedures, and repeatedly submitting medical testimony from her doctor, Martin was denied her disability benefits. Martin explains in her Unum lawsuit that she was also denied her first appeal, and has been continually denied an explanation for her termination. Martin is suing Unum Life Insurance Company for all missed payments, plus any other additional damages.

Overview of Unum Claim Denial Tactics

Unum is the largest and oldest disability insurance company in America, providing health and disability insurance policies to millions of American citizens. For the past several years, people have begun filing bad faith insurance lawsuits against the insurance giant for wrongfully denying insurance claims or for allegedly using unethical claim denial tactics, and practicing bad faith insurance. The tactics Unum and other insurance companies allegedly use against claimants include but are not limited to:

• Changing policies after claims are filed (and without the authorization or knowledge of policy holders)
• Improperly investigating the claim and obtaining opinions from unqualified witnesses
• Misreading medical records, often by their independent medical examiners
• Demanding repeated requests for independent medical examinations or denying a claim without any medical examination
• Refusing to acknowledge their disability, especially mental disorders, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome
• Arguing that the claim is a pre-existing condition
• Denying a claim with the intent to wear the claimant down to a lower settlement
• Partially paying a claim for total disability
• Use of detectives, friends, co-workers and neighbors in an attempt to discredit the disability

The Unum lawsuit is Clarissa J. Martin v. Unum Life Insurance of America, Case No. 3:14-cv-00698-MHH, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Northwestern Division.