Terminated February 26, 2011 from Jeld-Wen, presumably due to her disabling condition, Donna Wachhaus has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania against Cigna Group Insurance and Life Insurance Company of North America for her disability benefits. Employed at Jeld-Wen as a window assembler since April 10, 1989, Wachhaus went on medical leave in late August of 2009. She remained on medical leave until February 26, 2010 when she was terminated as a result of her “Disability-Unable to Return” status.

Background Of Wachhaus’ Disability Lawsuit

During the time of her medical leave, Wachhaus was paid thirteen weeks of Cigna short term disability benefits per her employee policy, but when she applied for her long-term disability benefits in early November, 2009, she was denied those benefits. After exhausting all administrative appeals allowed by Cigna, Wachhaus was forced to file a lawsuit against the insurer on March 26, 2011 under ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Act of 1974) and COBRA (the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. Fully compliant and in good-standing with her employee Cigna Plan, Wachhaus paid continuing premiums herself after her termination from Jeld-Wen from August 29, 2009 through March 2010 at which time she was told that she “could no longer participate in this plan.”

Diagnosed with “Panic Disorder, Recurrent Severe Anxiety Attacks, Adjustment Disorder, Racing Thoughts, Major Depressive Disorder, COPD, Coronary Artery Disease, and Angina,” Wachhaus was approved for her Social Security disability benefits which she was awarded after the SSC determined that Wachhaus was totally disabled and “unable to adjust to any other new work in any job capacity.” Unfortunately, Cigna doesn’t see Wachhaus’ situation in the same light and continues to deny Wachhaus her entitled long term disability benefits under its plan.

Wachhaus’s Disability Benefits Complaint Against Cigna

In her Complaint, Wachhaus and her Pennsylvania disability lawyer are suing Cigna for Breach of Contract and Negligence in its handling of Wachhaus’ disability benefits entitlement.

Claiming that Wachhaus is and was in compliance with all of Cigna’s requirements for the collection of disability benefits before, during, and now after her diagnosis, Wachhaus and her disability lawyer state in her Complaint that Cigna has engaged in “an unreasonable and bad-faith failure in the denial of disability payments” toward Wacchaus, even though Wacchaus is “in accordance with the language within the policy,” and thus, entitled to long term disability benefits under that plan. They allege that Cigna misinterpreted Wachhaus’ medical reports and records and breached its “duty of good faith and fair dealing through self interest, ill will, and wanton behavior.”

Harshly categorizing Cigna’s denial of benefits in the face of overwhelming documentation that Wachhaus should receive her disability benefits, as “frivolous” disregard of Wachhaus’ situation, Wachhaus’ Pennsylvania disability attorney chastises Cigna for causing Wachhaus more stress and further injury by denying her long term disability benefits.

As for her charge of negligence, Wachhaus and her disability lawyer claim that Cigna, as the claim policy holder, has a legal duty to consider the importance of a claimant’s need for disability benefits to someone in Wachhaus’s situation and that Cigna reviewers did not “act competently, promptly, and in the highest good faith” in its investigation, evaluation and handling of Wachhaus’s disability benefits award. Consequently, Wachhaus has suffered, and continues to suffer, financial loss as well as emotional stress because of Cigna’s negligence.

What Wachhaus And Her Disability Lawyer Want In Compensation From Cigna

Wachhaus and her disability attorney have asked the United States District Court of the Middle District of Pennsylvania to grant Wachhaus a favorable judgment on both counts of her lawsuit with compensatory damages for “failure to provide benefits rightfully due and owing under the policy in an amount in excess of $75,000.00” as well as interest Court costs, attorney fees and any other relief the Court “deems just and proper.”

About the author

Gregory Michael Dell is an attorney and managing partner of the disability income division of Attorneys Dell & Schaefer. Mr. Dell and his team of lawyers have assisted thousands of disability claimants with their claims against every major disability insurance company. For a free consultation, please call 800-828-7583 or contact us via our contact page.