An Illinois woman filed a disability insurance lawsuit against Unum Life Insurance Company for allegedly withholding her long-term disability benefits.

Plaintiff Cynthia Maria Uqdah claims that Unum used bad faith insurance tactics to deny her long-term disability benefits after she repeatedly applied for them, she says in the claim denial lawsuit.

Previously, Uqdah had been employed by a law firm as a legal secretary on a full-time basis and performed a variety of office duties. These duties required her to type, sit for long periods of time, walk or stand for certain periods, and use intense focus, she explains in her Unum lawsuit.

Under her employment contract, she was entitled to receive long-term and short-term disability benefits, in the event she ever needed them. She had additional financial insurance in place, should her insurance ever stall and not come through. She had been forced to call upon this when Unum denied her benefits.

While she had been in good health for a number of years, she had become disabled due to health issues on July 1, 2013. She had been suffering pain in her back, pelvis, and abdomen, she explains in her claim denial lawsuit.

Diagnostic testing revealed that she was suffering from an ovarian cyst and degenerative spinal disc. However, she did not receive this diagnostic testing until sometime after she started experiencing these symptoms because Unum allegedly refused to cover it.

She had initially filed a long-term disability claim with Unum, requesting that they cover the costs of an MRI procedure, along with costs for any complications found. Before filing the claim, she had been evaluated by several medical professionals including an internist, neurosurgeon, and gynecologist, the Unum claim denial lawsuit states.

From that, she had been diagnosed with ovarian cyst and mild spinal stenosis. She was recommended physical therapy and an MRI. Despite following all administrative procedures and submitting medical testimony from her physician, she was denied long-term disability benefits.

According to the Unum lawsuit, Uqdah could not afford physical therapy, but she was able to get the MRI due to an insurance policy she had through the Affordable Care Act. The MRI was not conducted until April 8. The results showed her spine had a degenerative disc disease, which would permanently impair her from her job. As such, she could no longer perform the necessary duties of her job due to the severe amount of pain she experienced.

Despite explaining all this in her claim, Unum reportedly denied her benefits and did the same when she appealed its decision. Even with all the medical evidence and testimony submitted, Unum stuck by its decision to deny her disability benefits and insisted that she was still able to perform the occupational duties of her job.

At this point, Uqdah has lost her healthcare coverage and is repeatedly incurring expenses as she is unable to work. She has exhausted all administrative remedies.

Uqdah is suing Unum Life Insurance Company for wrongfully denying her long-term disability benefits. She demands compensation for a missed payments and any viable interest.

This Unum Claim Denial Lawsuit is Cynthia Maria Uqdah v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America, Case No. Case 2:14-cv-06367-SDW-SCM, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Overview of Unum Claim Denial Tactics

Unum Insurance Company is the largest disability provider in the United States, and provides the most disability coverage in the world. Nearly 40 percent of all American disability insurance policies are provided by Unum, which serves approximately 17 million Americans. The insurer has recently been at the center of thousands of bad faith insurance lawsuits.

Several Unum employees have come forward and participated in televised interviews as seen on “60 Minutes.” The employees described Unum’s inner system of claim denial tactics and said that the employees must reach a claim denial quota each month.

The employees also described a number of claim denial tactics used for this process, which have been mentioned many times in numerous Unum lawsuits. The tactics mentioned include, but are not limited to:

• Changing policies after claims are filed (without the authorization or knowledge of policy holders)
• Improperly investigating the claim and obtaining opinions from unqualified witnesses
• 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