A Texas woman has filed a disability insurance lawsuit against Unum Life Insurance of America for wrongfully denying her long-term disability benefits. Plaintiff Elizabeth F. Lambert was previously employed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which provided all full-time employees long-term and short-term disability benefits.

According to the Unum lawsuit, Lambert is contending with several medical conditions that prevent her from performing similar work to her last job. Additionally, this prevents her from earning even half of her income, making the financial strain of the medical bills even tougher.

When Lambert first filed for long-term disability benefits, she followed all administrative procedures and met the requirements Unum Life Insurance set for claimants to receive benefits, including medical evidence and witness testimony. While Unum had initially granted Lambert disability benefits, they were terminated soon after. Lambert has tried to appeal the Unum’s decision, but was unsuccessful.

In the letter terminating benefits, Unum merely made a general identification of Lambert’s submitted documents, but failed to point out the specific reason or justification that she was denied, according to her Unum lawsuit. It is alleged that Unum used biased medical consultants to review Lambert’s claims and had reached their conclusion based on false information or presumptuous conclusions.

Lambert’s Unum lawsuit seeks all missed disability payments plus interest, and accuses Unum of bad faith insurance practices, and using unethical methods to review claims.

Overview of Unum Claim Denial Tactics

Lambert is one of the many claimants who has suffered from Unum’s claim denial tactics. Along with using third-party opinions, the company is known for using other questionable methods to find different ways to deny claims. Other tactics Unum allegedly uses against claimants include:

• 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

This Unum lawsuit is Elizabeth F. Lambert v. Unum Life Insurance of America, Case No. 3:14-cv-01382-L, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.