The Second Circuit Court of Appals last month ruled in McCauley v. Unum that the disability insurance giant in 1995 abused its discretion and denied benefits to a cancer sufferer under a conflict of interest.
The ruling, issued Dec. 24, 2008, involved John McCauley, who was diagnosed with advanced cancer in 1991, and notified his employer in 1994 that he was unable to keep working due to the effect of treatment. Unum in 1995 denied long-term benefits to McCauley that had been provided by his former employer, and again in 1996 under conversion coverage, leading McCauley to sue Unum for bad faith.
