An Unum disability insurance denial lawsuit has been filed against Unum Life Insurance Company of America by a New Hampshire plaintiff seeking reinstatement of previously denied short term and long term Unum disability benefits.

Plaintiff Daniel H. filed this Unum lawsuit on Jan. 16, claiming he was wrongfully denied short-term and long-term disability benefits due to him as a policyholder by his insurance provider Unum.

Until March of last year, Daniel was employed by Lannan Chevy of Lowell. As an employee of Lannan Chevy, Daniel was provided with short-term and long-term disability benefits through an Unum insurance plan. Daniel continued to work for Lannan Chevy of Lowell until March 2013, at which time suffered from certain health problems that rendered him disabled and forced him to cease working. Soon after, Daniel filed claims for short-term and long-term disability benefits, which were subsequently denied by Unum.

According to the Unum disability insurance denial lawsuit, Daniel appealed the denied disability claim, and alleges he “fully exhausted remedies” on the denied short-term disability claim. Unum’s short-term disability insurance claim denial “was also effectively a denial of Plaintiff’s claim for LTD [long-term disability],” according to the disability insurance denial lawsuit.

Daniel is seeking the reinstatement of his Unum disability insurance benefits due to him as an Unum insurance policyholder. In addition to Unum’s payment of Daniel’s long-term and short-term disability benefits, he is asking that the court award him payment of attorney’s fees and court costs incurred during the life of this disability insurance denial lawsuit.

The Unum Disability Insurance Denial Lawsuit is Case No. 6:15-cv-00213-MGL, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.

Background on Unum Bad Faith Insurance Practices

According to allegations by Daniel H. and multiple plaintiffs, Unum allegedly engaged in a cash flow underwriting scheme. Cash flow underwriting occurs when an insurance company, like Unum, sells many life insurance policies without assessing the future risks for each potential policy holder. Unum would then allegedly profit from the initial premiums and invest said premiums into the marketplace.

However, around 1993, the interest rates for life insurance policies decreased, which in turn meant a loss of profits for Unum and other life insurance providers. In order to retain some profits from existing and future disability insurance claims, Unum allegedly developed bad faith insurance practices to intentionally deny qualifying policy holders their long term disability benefits.

These bad faith insurance practices include ignoring evidence of disability provided by the plaintiff and independent physicians and medical experts. Instead, Unum allegedly bases its decision to deny Daniel and other qualifying Unum policyholders disability benefits by “ignoring relevant evidence pertaining to Plaintiff’s claim and, instead, relying upon biased information and flawed expert opinions.”

As previously stated, Daniel is not the only consumer to file an Unum lawsuit. Many individuals have filed Unum disability insurance denial lawsuits and may even choose to join an Unum class action lawsuit in the future.