Unum Asks Ninth Circuit to Weigh Long Covid as ERISA Disability

Unum Life Insurance Co. asked the Ninth Circuit to review a decision requiring it to pay disability benefits and attorneys’ fees to a litigator suffering from post-Covid fevers, brain fog, and fatigue.

The appeal sets the stage for what could be the first federal circuit court ruling in a case seeking disability benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act for ailments related to Covid-19.

These cases began to trickle through the federal court system in early 2022 after a slow start stemming from multiple factors that drew out the already lengthy internal appeals process that beneficiaries must go through ...