An Unum bad faith insurance denial lawsuit was filed by a South Dakota man against Unum Life Insurance Company alleging the company wrongfully denied long-term disability benefits under his employer’s plan.

Long-term disability benefits provide financial benefits to employees when they are unable to work due to a disability regardless of whether that illness or injury is work-related.

Unum Insurance policyholder and plaintiff Paul E. filed the Unum bad faith insurance lawsuit in October. He was a former employee of Black Hills Surgical Hospital and participated in the company’s group disability insurance plan which contracted with Unum Insurance to provide long-term disability benefits to full-time employees, the Unum lawsuit says.

According to the Unum disability benefits lawsuit, Paul was unable to continue to work because of an undisclosed disability. Unum allegedly violated Paul’s right to disability benefits under ERISA by denying his claim for long-term disability benefits without legal justification.

Paul has exhausted all appeals and is seeking to recover benefits due under the terms of his plan as well as all legal costs by filing this Unum bad faith insurance lawsuit.

Unum Bad Faith Insurance Tactics

Unum is a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based Fortune 500 insurance company previously named UnumProvident, which was formed from the merger of two competing insurance companies, Unum of Portland, Maine, and Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company of Chattanooga. Unum and its subsidiaries offer insurance products such as:

• Disability insurance
• Group life insurance
• Long-term care insurance
• Voluntary benefits – e.g., disability or critical illness coverage

Long-term disability insurers must act in good faith and deal fairly with their insureds when processing claims. Sadly, this doesn’t always happen as Unum Insurance has repeatedly been accused of engaging in insurance “bad faith” practices such as:

• Delayed payment on a valid claim without justification
• Failed to respond to disability policyholder requests
• Made endless demands for additional information
• Made an unreasonable request or the failure to order an Independent Medical Examinations
• Performed an invalid Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCE)
• Failed compliance with ERISA rules and regulations
• Ignored new medical, occupational or financial information
• Conducted selective video surveillance of claimants
• Made a lowball settlement offers or policy buy-out offer
• Misinformed you about the terms of your policy
• Failed to independently evaluate all of your conditions that prevent returning to work

Thousands of lawsuits like Paul’s have been initiated against Unum for bad faith insurance practices. Additionally, Unum became the focus of negative media attention in 2002, after several plaintiff’s attorneys who had sued the company went to national television outlets claiming that the company had quotas for closing claims. CBS’s 60 Minutes aired a very devastating article about Unum’s alleged abuses.

If you thought you were properly insured against long-term disability under an individual or group policy through Unum Insurance or its subsidiaries, only to have your valid claim for disability benefits denied, you are not alone. When an insurer fails to pay benefits that you need and deserve, you have the right to appeal the denial or take further legal action.

The Unum Insurance Lawsuit is Case No. 5:15-cv-05078-JLV in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, Western Division.