An Unum disability insurance lawsuit was recently filed against the Tennessee-based Fortune 500 insurance company formerly known as UnumProvident, accusing it of unfair business practices.

Plaintiff Robert L. files the Unum disability lawsuit in Massachusetts federal court. The lawsuit was filed on July 31, 2018.

According to the Unum disability insurance lawsuit, Robert, a resident of Massachusetts, was employed at Coca-Cola Refreshments USA, Inc. as a Field Service Supervisor. During his employment, he says he became eligible to participate in the company’s long-term disability (LTD) program, provided by Unum.

According to the policy, Unum would take a certain percentage of his monthly earnings to go toward the policy in the event that he became disabled.

Robert says the LTD policy defined disability as when “you are limited from performing the material and substantial duties of your regular occupation due to your sickness or injury; and you have a 20 percent or more loss in your indexed monthly earnings due to the same sickness or injury.”

Due to acquired injuries that included polyarthritis, osteoarthritis of the knees requiring bilateral total knee replacements, chronic venous insufficiency, and ulcers, Robert says he ceased work on Sept. 5, 2014, and was rendered disabled under the terms of the LTD policy. According to the disability insurance lawsuit, Unum paid and approved those benefits between March 6, 2015 and Oct. 26, 2017.

However, at the end of that October Unum informed Robert that his long-term disability benefits were terminated and that he was no longer going to receive payment. On June 5, 2018, Robert was attempting to appeal that decision through an appeal letter; Unum refused to alter its decision.

Overview: Unum Disability Insurance

Unum employs 100,000 employees in the U.S. and is one of the largest and most recognized employee benefits companies in the world. However, it has had thousands of complaints filed against them over allegations that accuse the company of placing profits over patient health and safety, unfair denial of consumer disability benefits, unreasonable delays in claim processing, and underpayment of insurance benefits.

Due to Unum’s bad faith practices and after a 60 Minutes segment airing the company’s unfair and bad faith procedures, a Regulatory Settlement Agreement was entered in by the company in 2004.

The Regulatory Settlement Agreement was signed between Unum and 40 other states. The company also signed a secondary agreement with the California Department of Insurance in 2005, also because of the company’s unfair mishandling of consumer’s disability benefits and policies.

The aired 60 Minutes segment featured former employees and physicians of Unum. One of the physicians brought on the show was allegedly fired for refusing to cooperate with the company by denying rightful disability insurance benefits to consumers. The segment also showed former employees claiming that Unum’s work environment came with “intense” pressure to deny consumer claims.

The Unum Disability Insurance Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-cv-11607-ADB in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The bad faith insurance attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual lawsuit or Unum class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, Unum bad faith lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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