Appeals court considers whether Unum must continue COLA increases after 65
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Summary
Panel heard competing contract readings in Mary Anne Bomba v. Unum: insurer says cost-of-living increases stop after the policy anniversary after age 65; insured's counsel says the rider and lifetime benefit must be read together to continue adjustments until contractual cap. Court reserved decision.
The panel next considered an insurance-contract dispute in Mary Anne Bomba v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America (docket 24P946) over whether cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increases continue after the policy anniversary occurring after the insured’s 65th birthday.
Counsel Joseph Hamilton for Unum explained the policy architecture: a base policy with a maximum-benefit period ending at age 65, optional lifetime-rider extensions, and a separate COLA rider that triggers annual tests. Hamilton argued the COLA provision applies annually only while the policy anniversary when the insured’s age is 65 "has not occurred," and that once that policy anniversary has passed the rider no longer triggers additional increases; he described the right‑hand termination language as controlling for future adjustments.
Plaintiff counsel Mala Rafiq replied that the contract must be read as a whole and that the COLA rider remains operative for a disabled insured who satisfies the rider’s conditions; she urged the panel to read the termination language in context and noted the lifetime rider was expressly designed to preserve benefit value against inflation. "The policy must be read as a whole," Rafiq said, and she argued that Unum’s interpretation would defeat the purposes of a lifetime rider.
The court pressed both sides on textual parsing and analogues in the caselaw. No ruling was announced; the matter was taken under advisement.