ERISA Class Action Watch

The National Consumer Law Center has filed an interesting (and possibly procedurally defective) complaint against UNUM Life Insurance in Massachusetts. The core allegation is that instead of paying lump-sum death benefits as required by its policies, UNUM instead gave beneficiaries a check book that drew on an account maintained by UNUM. UNUM thus profited by keeping the assets under its control longer. It’s an interesting suit, but it may be impossible to pursue as an ERISA class action because the plaintiff class involves individuals from many (probably hundreds) of plans.