A California woman recently filed a Unum ERISA lawsuit against the insurance giant, claiming it denied her rightful disability benefits.

The plaintiff, Kelly D., was covered by disability insurance from Unum through her employer. According to the Unum ERISA lawsuit, this Unum long-term disability policy falls under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (more commonly known as ERISA).

Kelly was employed by Dreamworks (the movie company), for whom she had worked since 2006. When she stopped working for Dreamworks, Kelly’s role with the company was as Vice President of Human Resources and Administration.

However, when Kelly filed to claim her disability insurance in January 2016 after becoming disabled and thus unable to work, Unum allegedly denied this claim.

At first, Kelly attempted to fight back by filing an administrative appeal, hoping to reverse Unum’s decision. But Unum denied this appeal, and left with no further administrative recourse, Kelly turned to a legislative approach seeing her rightful benefits.

According to the Unum ERISA lawsuit, Kelly’s insurance contract with Unum through Dreamworks required that Unum provide Kelly’s long-term disability benefits should she become unable to work because of some disabling condition, including injury or disease.

In Kelly’s case, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2012. Over the years, she says, it got progressively worse, and she suffered from pain, fatigue, impaired memory, difficulty concentrating, sleep difficulty, depression, and anxiety. As these symptoms worsened, Kelly says she was increasingly unable to perform the duties of her position at Dreamworks—especially as she worked between ten and twelve hours per day.

The Unum ERISA lawsuit claims that Kelly’s treating physician determined that she was totally disabled, and recommended that she stopped working in mid-2015. At the time, she didn’t listen, and continued working. In January 2016, her doctor made this recommendation again, and Kelly filed her disability claim shortly afterward, and stopped working at Dreamworks.

After Unum denied her claim, then denied her administrative appeal, Kelly filed an Unum ERISA lawsuit in an attempt to regain the benefits that were originally denied her.

Kelly is not the only person who has been denied disability benefits in this manner. Indeed, many others have gone through similar situations with Unum, and claim that its denial of benefits was improper. Many plaintiffs suffering from disabling conditions have, like Kelly, filed ERISA lawsuits against Unum after being denied these benefits.

Filing an Unum ERISA Lawsuit

A growing number of plaintiffs are filing their own Unum ERISA lawsuit against the company, claiming that the insurance giant unfairly denied their claims to benefits that they qualify for under the terms of their insurance policies.

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 file an Unum ERISA lawsuit over denied disability benefits.

The Unum ERISA Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-02929-R-AFM, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.