After a Minnesota man’s Unum benefits claim was denied, he decided to file a lawsuit against the insurance company, alleging the denial was unfair.

The plaintiff, Anthony A., was an employee of Time Warner Cable, which provided its employees with a disability insurance plan through Unum Life Insurance Company of America, or Unum. According to the lawsuit, Anthony became disabled in July 2013, and is therefore entitled to the benefits provided by the Unum plan through his employer. He submitted an Unum benefits claim since he was no longer able to perform the duties of his job.

Anthony’s Unum benefits claim was initially granted. In fact, he was paid disability benefits until Nov. 17, 2016, when Unum suddenly reversed its decision on his Unum benefits claim. Though Anthony appealed this reversal, his appeal was denied on July 31, 2017.

At that point, Anthony was left with no other recourse than litigation. Maintaining that Unum’s decision to deny his Unum benefits claim was wrong, he filed a lawsuit as a last attempt to reclaim his rightful benefits. Anthony’s ERISA disability lawsuit was filed on Aug. 25 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Unum Benefits Claim Denial

Anthony is far from the only employee to be covered through Unum Life Insurance Company of America and be denied proper benefits. Unum is the single largest disability insurance company in the country. Some disabled consumers seek reinstatement of their disability benefits by pursuing the administrative means available to them, including appealing Unum’s decision.

However, even when a consumer attempts to make an appeal, like Anthony did, Unum may still deny this appeal. After exhausting administrative means of appealing this decision, some turn to legislative means to seek the company’s reinstatement of disability benefits going forward.

A growing number of plaintiffs like Anthony have begun filing disability benefits lawsuits against Unum. Lawsuits allege that the insurance giant unfairly denied their Unum benefits claim that they qualify for under the terms of their insurance policies provided by their employer.

This Unum ERISA lawsuit and others like it allege that Unum has unfairly denied the disability insurance claims of plaintiffs who are qualified to receive such benefits. Some lawsuits go further, alleging that the company purposely denied the claims of hundreds of thousands of workers with legitimate disabilities for no reason other to increase company profit.

Filing a Unum Lawsuit

Consumers who have exhausted all recourse through applications and appeals for disability benefits may turn to filing a lawsuit over denied disability benefits, hoping to reverse Unum’s denial.

If you or someone you know has been unfairly denied long-term disability benefits by Unum Life Insurance Company of America, you may be able to seek reinstatement of disability benefits by filing an Unum lawsuit.

The Unum Benefits Claim Lawsuit is Case No. 0:17-cv-03946-MJD-BRT, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.