Long Term Disability Law Blog
We discuss a successful appeal against Unum Insurance Company on behalf of a woman in her 40s who worked as a county transportation manager. After suffering a traumatic brain injury from a fall, she was initially approved for disability benefits and paid for six months. Despite ongoing cognitive impairments, memory loss, and difficulty concentrating—conditions critical to her demanding and safety-sensitive job—Unum terminated her benefits based solely on paper reviews by peer-review doctors who concluded she had recovered, without conducting any neuropsychological testing.
Long term disability attorney Rachel Alters appealed the termination by identifying this key gap in Unum’s evaluation and obtaining a comprehensive neuropsychological exam, which showed severe cognitive dysfunction preventing the claimant from performing not only her own occupation but any gainful work. The appeal succeeded, and Unum reinstated benefits. The case highlights the importance of objective cognitive testing, detailed medical documentation, and proactive claim management—especially for claimants with cognitive impairments—to both win appeals and protect benefits as the definition of disability later shifts from “own occupation” to “any occupation.”