Unum Life Insurance Company of America, one of the largest life insurance providers in the United States, was hit with a disability benefits denial lawsuit by a North Carolina citizen, who alleges the life insurance company violated federal law by wrongfully denying his disability benefits.

Plaintiff James P. is a 52-year-old service technician who was once employed for over 15 years by Time Warner Cable Company, through whom he received a group long term disability benefits policy issued by Unum. In May 2012, however, James was in a severe car accident, resulting in serious and permanent injuries.

According to the Unum disability benefits denial lawsuit: “[James] suffers from severe, post concussive migraine headaches with extreme sensitivity to light, sound that produce episodic nausea and vomiting that have prevented him from performing the usual and customary duties of his occupation or any other employment on a regular basis since May 11, 2010. As a result of his disability, he was forced to leave his employment and seek long term disability benefits from [Unum].”

Soon after his accident, James applied for short term disability benefits from Unum, which Unum initially approved. Before these short term disability benefits ended, James applied for and was approved for Unum’s long term disability benefits, the Unum lawsuit claims.

However, in June 2014, Unum informed James that his benefits would be terminated, a decision which James claims was wrongfully made. He appealed Unum to have his disability benefits reinstated and included overwhelming evidence from his doctor that his disability was lasting and permanent, he explains in his Unum claim denial lawsuit. In March of this year, Unum denied James’s appeal for disability benefits.

James is seeking relief in this disability benefits lawsuit in the form of declaratory and injunctive relief, establishment of his long term disability benefits to be paid by Unum, payment of attorneys’ fee, and any other forms of relief deemed fit by the court.

This Unum Disability Benefits Denial Lawsuit is Case No. 5:15-cv-49, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

Background on Unum Bad Faith Insurance Practices

According to allegations by James and other Unum disability insurance policy holders, Unum allegedly has been a part of a cash flow underwriting scheme for over the past couple of decades.

Cash flow underwriting is the practice of selling many life insurance policies without assessing the future risks for each potential policy holder. Numerous Unum lawsuits allege the insurance company made profits from the initial premiums and invested those premiums into the marketplace.

In order to retain some profits from existing and future disability insurance claims, Unum allegedly developed bad faith insurance denial practices to intentionally deny qualifying policy holders their long term disability benefits. Even when they submitted all appropriate paperwork and clearly demonstrated an inability to work due to their disabilities, Unum allegedly denied these consumers their disability insurance benefits.

James is not the only consumer to file an Unum bad faith denial lawsuit. Many individuals have filed Unum disability insurance denial lawsuits.