Man Involved in Lawsuit Related to Unum Insurance Policy

Washington, DCA disabled man has filed a lawsuit against the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, claiming that he was wrongfully taxed on his Unum disability insurance.

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">Ronald W. Parkinson worked for 28 years at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Maryland, often under stressful conditions, according to court filings obtained by Leagle.com. In 1998, Parkinson suffered a heart attack while on the job and, after recovering, scaled back the hours he worked from 70 per week to 40.

After changing his hours, Parkinson claims he was the victim of "extreme and outrageous misconduct" on the part of two employees. He says that these employees harassed him until he eventually suffered a second heart attack at work.

The subsequent medical case was settled and Parkinson received a $34,000 payment. He also received $17,082 from an insurance policy issued by Unum Life Insurance Company of America. Unum withheld $1,800 of that amount for the federal income tax. Parkinson is now claiming that he incorrectly reported his benefits from Unum and was wrongly taxed.

He was seeking compensation for his perceived error, but the court ruled that he was not entitled to any repayment and in fact owed the IRS $2,763 in accuracy-related penalties.