A Unum lawsuit was filed by an Oklahoma woman who alleges Unum Life Insurance Company wrongfully denied life insurance coverage that her mother had obtained through work.

In November 2012, plaintiff Melissa G.’s  mother, Earlene, died. Melissa is the designated co-beneficiary of Earlene’s Unum policy. Melissa filed a Unum bad faith insurance lawsuit last month, alleging her mother properly requested to keep her life insurance in place and Unum wrongly denied her request.

According the Unum Lawsuit, Earlene was provided a “Life Insurance Election of Portability Coverage” form upon retiring from her job in January 2011. This election form is an election for Unum’s special “benefit feature,” which allegedly did not provide portability coverage either in terms of continued life coverage without medical criteria or in terms of the amount of coverage.

The election form discloses that Unum might determine that Ms. Forsythe was not eligible due to a medical condition that had a material effect on life expectancy, but Unum allegedly failed to disclose that they would never make such a determination in connection with accepting her premium, issuing her the insurance coverage, and continuing to take her continuing premiums.

According to the Unum lawsuit, Unum knew that Earlene was entitled under her base group policy, as required by law, to the $30,000 of her life insurance coverage without regard to any health conditions under her conversion provisions.

The Unum lawsuit contends that Unum failed to honestly disclose the true nature of its  life insurance product which was allegedly designed to undermine the portability of Earlene’s life insurance coverage.

Unum Bad Faith Insurance Practices

Unum has long been accused of bad faith insurance denials, mostly from those who held long-term disability insurance policies. A CBS 60 Minutes report revealed the company established a quota for denied claims and offered incentives to employees who denied valid claims from policyholders.

Unum continues to face numerous bad faith insurance denial lawsuits over rejecting claims with no apparent basis other than not wanting to pay the claims.

This Unum Lawsuit is Case No. 5:14-cv-01385-HE, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District Of Oklahoma.