Unum

In Fleming v. Unum, Pamela Fleming (“Ms. Fleming”) was a litigation attorney at the firm Kern & Wooley, LLP (“Kern & Wooley”). She was in a serious car accident in 1998, which caused injuries to her thoracic spine and neck. After receiving a cervical spine fusion around 2003, Ms. Fleming kept having back and neck pain, which led …

Fleming v. Unum – Court Rules That Unum “Cherry-Picked” The RecordRead More

The present case involves an ERISA claim for short-term disability and long-term disability insurance benefits where the claimant argues that the administrator improperly denied his claims for benefits. Marc Kouzmanoff (“Kouzmanoff”) was a sales representative for Thompson Reuters Holdings, Inc. (“Thompson Reuters”). In 2001, he developed diabetes; later, in 2016, he applied for disability benefits arguing that his job duties included a …

Kouzmanoff v. Unum – Court Upholds Unum’s Decision To Deny Diabetes ClaimRead More

The judge stated that, “the record, the policy, and the Parties’ arguments do not support the assertion that Plaintiff was disabled as of July 2012 (termination of LTD benefits) and August 2012 (termination of LWOP benefits). The Court, therefore, has no alternative other than to affirm Unum’s decision to deny Plaintiff’s benefits.”

Hans v. Unum – Court Upholds Denial Of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ClaimRead More

Cara R. Denney (“Denney”) was an employee of Wagner Equipment Company (“Wagner”) where she was a Computer and Technology Instructor.  Her job duties “required extensive computer use” and “the ability to instruct employees on the use of various computer systems.” She was also required to travel up to fifty percent of the time, be able to …

Denney v. Unum – Court Remands Unum LTD Claim For Further ReviewRead More

The Court concluded that Warner’s motion must be granted because Unum abused its discretion in denying her claim without substantively explaining its rejection of her functional capacity evaluation and relying exclusively on the absence of objective tests confirming her subjective symptoms when denying her claim.

Warner v. Unum – A Claimant Friendly ERISA Federal Court DecisionRead More

Susan Usztics (“Usztics”) was employed as a program manager for MSX International, Inc. Through her employment, she held a short-term disability benefits policy which was administered by Unum Life Insurance Company of America (“Unum”). Her last day of work was February 4, 2014, following which she applied for short-term disability benefits because of fibromyalgia, anxiety, and …

Usztics v. Unum – Court Rules There Is No Evidence To Support LTD ClaimRead More

The Court determined that Unum came to a reasonable decision after a principled decision-making process. Although the Court may have reached a different conclusion independently, Unum did not abuse its discretion in denying Allen’s claim for long-term disability benefits.

Allen v. Unum – Court Rules Unum Did Not Abuse Discretion In Denying ClaimRead More