Unum Provident
Lawsuit
On November 5, 2002, a class action lawsuit was
filed against Unum Provident in a Manhattan federal court. The
class action Unum Provident lawsuit is just another legal action
taken against the nation's largest disability insurer. The charges
filed against the company state that Unum Provident has "illegally
victimized, and continues to victimize, many thousands of disabled
Americans". The class action lawsuit is seeking an unspecified
monetary amount in addition to asking the courts to order Unum
Provident re-evaluate every claim
it has denied in recent years.
There have been nearly 3,000 Unum Provident lawsuits
filed in the last five years. Former employees, as well as Insurers
claiming the company denied claims in order to meet financial
goals, pushing financial gain over legitimate claims, have sued
Unum Provident. The class action lawsuit alleges Unum Provident
created a paper trail to back the denied
claims using the company's own medical staff.
Unum Provident maintains that they have never
used questionable business tactics or bad
faith, however, over a dozen former and present employees
have come forward to verify the Unum disability claim denial tactics,
including former vice presidents of Unum Provident. A former in-house
physician at Unum Provident, Dr. McSharry, sued the company in
July 2002 after being fired that previous January. McSharry says
Unum Provident pressured him, as well as the other doctors, to
go along with claim handlers' decisions to terminate claims.
Dr. McSharry says he was fired after he refused
to sign off on claims. On the television news show 60 Minutes,
Unum Provident bad faith business practices were disclosed by
former Unum employees that have been confirmed by over a dozen
current and former employees. The former employees disclosed information
on Unum Provident saying the workers were told they must meet
monthly targets that would come from the directors or above as
to the sum of money that must be met by the end of the month in
closures.
The bad
faith tactics have been continuously denied by Unum Provident
to date. The elected California Department of Insurance head,
John Garamendi attributes Unum's risk of liability by continuing
to deny or cancel claims to a matter of economic equation. Garamendi
thinks that Unum Provident looks at how much business it risks
losing versus how much business will be gained by denying
the legitimate claims. So far, Unum Provident has been financially
successful using bad faith business tactics and has avoided major
liability.
The majority of lawsuits against Unum Provident
thus far have been settled out of court and the company says most
of the cases ending up in trial are won on their end. It appears
Unum Provident may be running out of luck as bad publicity and
a higher number of lawsuits are being filed against the insurance
company. The recent class action filed against Unum Provident
and the $7.5 million judgment upheld at the end of November 2002
by a San Francisco federal court found the insurance company used
bad faith when closing a claim is more bad news for the insurance
company. The court also found Unum Provident used employed biased
medical examiners and improperly destroyed medical reports, in
addition to other reports.
Even before 60 Minutes aired the Unum Provident
news story, the insurance company issued a statement defending
their claim handling process and stated they believed the show
would be "incorrect in its implications". Some find
Unum Provident's defensive forewarning to make them appear guilty.
The largest disability insurance company by far, Unum Provident
is now facing a critical time as they continue to be named the
focus of bad faith lawsuits.
If
you would like more information on bad faith lawsuits and Unum
Provident, please contact us to confer with a bad faith lawyer.
