UNUM: A Pattern of Poor Business Practices

Unum is one of the largest disability insurance providers in the world. It has operated under the name UnumProvident, First Unum, and Provident, and it holds subsidiary companies.

Unum and its subsidiaries have repeatedly been found guilty of illegal practices relating to long-term care insurance and denied disability claims:

• In 1995, investigators found that the company set monthly financial goals that required it to deny legitimate claims, and that the company even gave employees financial incentive to deny claims.
• In 2004, the courts found Unum guilty of gross bad faith, and the company had to reconsider its denial of some 200,000 claims and pay a fine of $15 million.
• In 2006, Unum was back in court again on charges of bad faith, and one of the vice presidents of UnumProvident was found guilty on federal fraud charges.
• Also in 2006, several state regulators found the company guilty of fraudulent practices, charging the company $15 million in damages and almost $2 million in penalties.
• A class action lawsuit has been brought against Unum and Cigna alleging that the companies force policyholders to file for federal Social Security disability benefits by threatening that their private insurance benefits will be cut. Because the definition of a disability under Social Security is much stricter than under most insurance policies, this leads to long delays in paying claims.

When held to account for fraudulent insurance practices and gross examples of insurance bad faith, Unum has been known to destroy e-mails and other documents that could prove guilt.

Despite these dirty tactics, it's not impossible to win a case against Unum, as we've seen in the court cases above. At the San Francisco law office of Pillsbury & Levinson, LLP, our insurance attorneys have tackled Unum cases for clients throughout California and have won cases in court and in negotiations.

We represent policyholders in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout California in cases involving group disability insurance policies governed by a federal law called the Employee Retirement Insurance Security Act or "ERISA." Our ERISA insurance claim team has extensive experience handling these complex cases on behalf of individuals and groups who have faced claim problems with Unum and other insurers. (See our ERISA website.)

Insurance companies have a duty to policyholders to act in good faith in the prompt and proper handling of claims. If your claim has been unfairly denied or your payments have been unfairly delayed, you may be able to bring a bad faith insurance claim under ERISA law. Contact an insurance lawyer at Pillsbury & Levinson, LLP.