BENTON - An insurance company is being sued for allegedly denying long-term benefits to a former employee of Machhoffs Family Foods who claims she was suffering from lung disease symptoms.
Aetna Insurance is accused of being "arbitrary and capricious" in denying benefits to Tammy Logsdon, a one-time information technology manager at Machhoffs Family Foods. She claims she was covered by a company group insurance policy.
Logsdon filed the lawsuit May 3 in the US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois alleging breach of obligations and violations of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
Logsdon was employed by Machloffs Family Foods until she claims she was forced to stop work in June 2018 due to symptoms related to interstitial lung disease and related conditions.
She was approved for short-term disability benefits from July 2018 to Dec. 2, 2018. The suit states that she was then denied a continuation of short-term benefits and denied long-term benefits as well.
"Defendant’s denial of long-term disability benefits was arbitrary and capricious, and not based on substantial evidence, was a breach of their fiduciary duties and was the product of a conflict of interest and serious procedural irregularities," the suit claims.
Logsdon seeks an unspecified judgment in her favor, plus attorney's fees and costs. She also asks the court to order the defendant to pay all benefits due under the insurance plan since Dec. 3, 2018 and an order for restitution to "disgorge defendants' unjust enrichment in wrongfully delaying and denying benefits …"
The plaintiff is represented by Matthew Davis and Adam Olszeski of Gallagher Davis LLP in St. Louis.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:20-cv-00401