A woman has filed a lawsuit against Unum Life Insurance Company of America under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act alleging her long term disability benefits were improperly denied.

Plaintiff Maura T. was employed by Humana and her employer covered long term disability benefits in cooperation with Unum.

Despite being covered by the plan and having fully paid premiums, Maura alleges that she was denied Unum LTD benefits despite meeting eligibility requirements.

Maura states that she was disabled based on the factors laid out in the long term disability insurance plan but was nevertheless denied when she attempted to collect the Unum LTD benefits that she believes she was entitled to.

The lawsuit states that Maura became disabled on July 16, 2014 due to multi-level lumbar fusions and stopped working at that time.

She was paid Unum LTD benefits from July 16, 2015 to December 16, 2015. On December 16, 2015, her Unum LTD benefits were denied, the lawsuit states.

“Since December 17, 2015, the Plaintiff has continued to meet the definition of disability as identified by the Policy and continues to be disabled from not only her occupation but any occupation. She has not worked in any occupation for which she is or may reasonably become qualified for based on her education, training and experience,” the lawsuit states.

Maura has brought forth two counts: an action to recover plan benefits and an action to clarify right to receive plan benefits.

She is seeking past Unum LTD benefits, reinstatement of benefits, cost of litigation and attorneys’ fees.

Unum LTD Benefits and Denials

Unum appears to have a reputation for improperly denying long-term disability benefits to individuals who allegedly meet all of the eligibility requirements as spelled out in their disability insurance plans.

In fact, in the 1980s, Unum was accused of engaging and cash flow underwriting, a process involving the sale of many life insurance policies without considering the potential future risks of a policyholder. There were also allegations that Unum invested the money from insurance premiums elsewhere and made profits from the investments.

When the value of life insurance policies decreased, Unum allegedly began a process of systematically denying benefits to policyholders even though they qualified based on eligibility requirements under the plan, giving rise to the idea that Unum was engaging in bad faith insurance policies.

Filing an Unum LTD Benefits Lawsuit

If you have disability benefits available through Unum and have been denied Unum LTD benefits even though you believe you are eligible, you may be entitled to take legal action against Unum to recover past benefits that were due to you and reinstate your benefits for future payments.

In order to be eligible to file an Unum LTD benefits lawsuit under ERISA, you must have exhausted all of your appeals that are available to you by appealing directly to Unum. Once you have exhausted all of your administrative appeals, then you may be eligible to take legal action.

An experienced attorney can review your case at no charge and can help you decide if filing legal action against Unum is right for you.

The Unum LTD Benefits Lawsuit is Case No. 8:16-cv-02731, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division.