A Michigan woman has filed an disability insurance lawsuit against Unum Life Insurance Company, alleging that the company wrongfully denied her long-term disability benefits.

Plaintiff Stephanie S. claims in her claim denial lawsuit that Unum ignored relevant medical facts of her case, which allegedly prove that she can no longer work in her occupation.

Previously, Stephanie had been fully-employed and was provided complete long-term and short-term disability benefits through her employer. Unum had been the insurance provider of choice for her previous employer to provide long-term disability health coverage should she need it.

According to the Unum lawsuit, Stephanie suffers from hypersomnolence that impairs her daily function, and therefore made it impossible for her to work.

Hypersomnolence is a sleep disorder, which can cause a person to fall asleep in the middle of the day, even at work.

Soon after Stephanie was diagnosed, she lost her job and has been unable to find a similar occupation that would allow her to earn the same amount in wages. Ever since she lost her job, Stephanie has incurred mass medical expenses and has lost a majority of her savings, according to the disability insurance lawsuit.

Under these conditions, Stephanie had qualified for Unum’s long-term disability benefits and would have been provided these benefits if Unum followed its own policy, she claims in her Unum lawsuit.

The plaintiff reportedly submitted all documentation within the provided deadline, along with all relevant medical testimony from her physician. Despite providing sufficient evidence, Unum denied the plaintiff’s claim for long-term disability benefits.

Stephanie filed a timely appeal against this decision, but was met with the same result. At this point in time, the Michigan woman has reportedly exhausted all administrative options to resolve this matter and has had to resort to legal action.

Stephanie alleges that Unum denied her long-term disability benefits based on bad faith insurance practices, and continues to deny her claim based on these illegal methods.

So for allegedly using unlawful means of denying her long-term disability claim, Stephanie is charging Unum with practicing bad faith insurance and concealing information.

This Unum Claim Denial Lawsuit is Case No. 2:14-cv-12927-DML-MJH, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division.

Overview of Unum Claim Denial Tactics

Unum Life Insurance Company is well-known in the United States, and it is the oldest and longest-running disability provider in America, with more than 17 million policyholders.

However, Unum has become infamous for allegedly using illegal tactics to systematically deny claims for disability coverage. For years, policyholders have complained that Unum had denied their claims based on false or empty assumptions about their conditions, while ignoring the severity of their situations.

Several investigations have been conducted into the business practices of Unum. As of now, thousands of policyholders are filing Unum claim denial lawsuits due to these alleged bad faith insurance practices.

The claim denial tactics alleged in Unum lawsuits include, but are not limited to:

• Changing policies after claims are filed, without notifying policyholders
• Illegally investigating the claim and obtaining opinions from unqualified individuals
• Misreading medical records, often by hired, in-house medical examiners
• Repeatedly requesting independent medical examinations or denying a claim without a medical examination
• Refusing to acknowledge the disability
• Stating the claim is a pre-existing condition
• Repeatedly denying the claim to wear down the policyholder to a lower settlement
• Only partially paying for total disability
• Using detectives, friends, co-workers and neighbors to attempt to discredit the claim