Unum Life Insurance Company has been hit with a bad faith insurance lawsuit stemming from allegations that the insurer unfairly denied a claim for long-term disability benefits.

Plaintiff Jeannette M. of South Carolina claims that Unum made the decision to deny her disability benefits by ignoring evidence and instead relying on biased information and flawed expert opinions.

The disability insurance lawsuit alleges that plaintiff Jeannette was employed with Tractor Supply, and was provided with long-term disability coverage through a Unum life insurance plan. Jeannette claims that she should have been fully insured by Unum after suffering her disability, but the insurance company has refused to provide her benefits.

Jeannette alleges that Unum’s decision to deny long-term disability insurance was not based on substantial evidence or reasonable decision making. She is suing for the unpaid disability benefits that she believes are owed to her. 

Unum Disability Benefits

Unum is one of the oldest and largest life insurance companies in the U.S. with more than 17 million policyholders. Each month, these Unum customers deduct a portion of their paycheck to pay for disability insurance benefits on the slight chance they eventually are injured and are no longer able to work.

Paying for disability insurance coverage helps ease the minds of employees that if they need to claim disability, they can rely on some income to help them cover expenses. However, Unum has been accused of denying insurance claims for the smallest of reasons and sometimes no reason whatsoever.

Policyholders who allege Unum has participated in bad faith practices must show evidence that the company’s decision was based on unreasonable claims. For example, potential plaintiffs may show that Unum refused to acknowledge medical records or other forms of disability evidence, and denied the claim even after receiving copies of the records.

Over the years, policyholders have accused Unum of the following bad faith practices:

• Misreading medical records in order to deny claims
• Investigations that are performed by biased and sometimes unqualified “experts”
• Changing policies once claims are filed (and without the authorization or knowledge of policy holders)
• Claims representatives who take favorable opinions of nurses over physicians when it comes to disability reports
• Refusing to acknowledge claimants’ disability
• Omitting records sent to record reviewers when the record would show a claimant as disabled

Disability Insurance Lawsuits

Thousands of Unum lawsuits have been filed across the nation by policyholders who have accused the insurance company of unfairly denying benefits. In general, plaintiffs state that they submit all the required paperwork to prove a disability, but are still denied.

Often times, filing a lawsuit against Unum is the only way for policyholders to receive the disability benefits they are owed. If you were denied Unum benefits, contact a disability attorney to find out if you have legal claim. 

The Unum Claim Denial Lawsuit is Case No. 2:15-cv-03719-RMG in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division.