A recent decision from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee established strong arguments in support of total disability for an OB/GYN suffering from an injury to her right index finger. In Nylander v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America (Unum) the Court was tasked with ruling on a Motion for Summary Judgement filed by Unum in which Unum was asking the Court to dismiss Dr. Nylander’s claim for total disability benefits. For reasons discussed below the Court denied Unum’s motion and in doing so allowed Dr. Nylander’s claim for total disability to proceed through to trial.

There are certain legal factors that must be determined by a Judge when entering a ruling on a Motion for Summary Judgment, the most important being a determination as to the existence of a material issue of fact for a decision maker (Jury) to consider. This article will focus on the factors that the Court deemed were sufficient to establish a material issue of fact in Dr. Nylander’s claim for total disability benefits that resulted in the case not being dismissed. It should also be noted that Dr. Nylander’s disability insurance policy was an Individual Disability Income/Insurance (IDI) policy and not an employer provided group disability policy governed by ERISA. As such Dr. Nylander has a great deal more rights as it relates to trial- including a jury trial, live testimony, the ability to take depositions, etc.Continue Reading Court Finds Evidence of Total Disability for OB/GYN With Finger Injury

After receiving disability benefits for 5 years from Sun Life insurance Company, Connie never expected her disability insurance benefits would be denied. Connie Hepburn was a "participant" in a Sun Life Disability benefit plan ("the Plan,") due to her employment with Toyoda-Koki Automotive North America, Inc. ("Toyoda") as a Shipping Supervisor in the Production Control

To hear company officials tell it Unum is emphatically on the mend, this after the disability insurer was wracked by scandal and losses earlier in the decade.

In 2005, Unum reached a costly settlement with attorneys general in 49 states over allegations of unfairly terminating or denying coverage to disabled clients. That was after a

Unum, the largest long-term disability benefit insurer in the United States and Britain, said net earnings fell 74 percent to $41.8 million, or 13 cents a share, from $160.5 million, or 44 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Chattanooga, Tennessee-based Unum said it had $167.6 million in net realized investment losses, largely the result of writing down impaired investments.
Continue Reading Unum Profit Falls in 4th Quarter Due to $167.6 Million in Investment Losses