Leavey v. Unum Provident Corp. (Ninth Circuit)

The plaintiff was a dentist who lost his license due to narcotics addiction and began receiving total disability benefits from the defendant.  He alleged emotional and physical harm resulting from a letter stating that his benefits would be terminated even though the defendant reinstated those benefits before the plaintiff missed any payments.  The jury awarded $4 million in compensatory damages, mostly for emotional distress, and $15 million in punitive damages.  On post-trial motions, we convinced the trial court to reduce these amounts to $1.2 million and $3 million.  We then successfully defended that outcome in the Ninth Circuit.