Illinois plaintiff Robin E. is suing Unum Life Insurance Company of America for allegedly denying her short-term and long-term disability benefits. Robin claims that Unum denied her disability benefits under bad faith insurance circumstances, as they had no probable cause to dismiss her claim.

Prior to suffering a disability, Robin was fully employed and eligible for both short-term and long-term disability benefits under the terms and conditions of her employment. When Robin became disabled in April 2014, she could no longer work for the company as she did before.

After losing a percentage of her income due to her disability, and after receiving medical advice not to work sufficient work hours, Robin filed for disability benefits with Unum. Despite following all protocol in the claim application process, as well as submitting viable medical testimony from her physician, Unum denied her disability benefits.

Unum Life Insurance

Unum Life Insurance Company is the largest disability insurance provider in the world, as well as the oldest in the United States. The company currently insures over 17 million American citizens, and continues to accumulate new policyholders every day. Unfortunately, Unum has become infamous for allegedly using a variety of bad faith insurance tactics to deny insurance claims including:

• Changing policies after claims are filed, without notifying the policyholder
• Improperly investigating an insurance claim and obtaining opinions from unqualified third party opinions
• Misreading medical records
• Repeatedly demanding requests for independent medical examinations or denying a claim without any medical validation
• Refusing to acknowledge the claimant’s disability
• Arguing that the disability is a pre-existing condition

Overview of Unum Claim Denial Lawsuit

According to Robin’s lawsuit, she applied for both short-term and long-term benefits, but Unum denied both. Robin appealed this decision in a timely manner, submitting the appeal within the deadline and answering any additional questions Unum had for her.

However, Unum again rejected Robin’s short-term disability claim, asserting her condition did not qualify as a “disability” under the policy’s definition. Because Unum’s definition of disability was the same on both policies, the short-term denial effectively denied the long-term disability claim as well.

Robin claims that Unum made its initial claim decision while operating under a conflict of interest and that the denial was not based upon substantial evidence.  Rather, Robin asserts, Unum ignored relevant evidence and relied instead on biased information and flawed expert opinions.

The Unum claim denial lawsuit is Robin E. v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America, Case No. 6:15-cv-01773-HMH, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Greenville Division.