Collins v. Unum Life Ins. Co. of Am.
| Decision Date | 06 May 2016 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL NO. 2:15cv188 |
| Citation | 185 F.Supp.3d 860 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia |
| Parties | Jennifer Mullen Collins, Plaintiff, v. Unum Life Insurance Company of America, Defendant. |
Gregory N. Stillman, Wendy Cohen McGraw, Hunton & Williams LLP, Norfolk, VA, John Maguire Dowd, John M. Dowd, PLLC, Rachel Elizabeth Mossman, Todd Michael Stenerson, Hunton & Williams, LLP, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.
David Edward Constine, III, Stephen Charles Piepgrass, Troutman Sanders LLP, Richmond, VA, for Defendant.
This matter comes before the Court on Summary Judgment Motions filed by both the plaintiff, Jennifer Collins ("Ms. Collins" or "Plaintiff"), and the defendant, UNUM Life Insurance Company of America ("Unum" or "Defendant"). ECF Nos. 30, 32. For the forthcoming reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 32, and DENIES Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 30.
This case arises from the unfortunate death of David M. Collins ("Mr. Collins"), a former Navy SEAL, who took his own life on March 12, 2014. AR033. At the time of his death Mr. Collins was insured under a Supplemental Life Group Life Insurance Policy funded and administered by the defendant Unum. Mr. Collins' widow, Jennifer Collins, was the named beneficiary of the policy. Unum denied Ms. Collins' claim under the policy pursuant to a suicide exclusion within the policy. Ms. Collins now appeals this denial. This case is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq . ("ERISA").
Mr. Collins served in the United States Navy as a SEAL for seventeen years, during which he was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait. AR173-75.1 Mr. Collins served in dangerous and stressful situations. AR198-200, 202-03. He was exposed to enemy gunfire and blasts from mortar fire. AR199, 202. During his deployments, he was frequently sleep-deprived, a condition his colleagues linked both to the stresses of deployment, especially in enemy areas, and to his specific duties, which required him "to be constantly on guard." AR200, 202-03, 220-21.
After retiring from the Navy, on or around September 9, 2012, Mr. Collins began working for Blackbird Technologies ("Blackbird"). AR023, 123, 221. Through Blackbird, Mr. Collins enrolled in two life insurances policies: a basic life insurance policy with $104,000 in coverage that was part of his group benefit plan, and a supplemental life insurance policy with an additional $500,000 in coverage. AR024. The underlying insurer of both plans was Unum Life Insurance Company of America ("Unum"). AR050. It is the supplemental policy, Supplemental Group Life Insurance Policy No. 212563 ("Supplemental Policy"), that is contested in this litigation. Id. As will be discussed, benefits have been paid under the Basic Life Insurance Policy, Policy No. 218750 ("Basic Policy"). See Compl. ¶¶ 90-94, ECF No. 1.
Coverage under the Supplemental Policy began on February 1, 2013. AR130. The policy contained an exclusion for death by suicide, which states in the relevant part:
AR087-88. The Supplemental Policy also delegates to UNUM "discretionary authority to make benefit determinations under the Plan." AR113. Within the Plan, "[b]enefit determinations include determining eligibility for benefits and the amount of any benefits, resolving factual disputes, and interpreting and enforcing the provisions of the Plan." Id.
Ms. Collins began to notices changes in her husband in the years before his death. AR232. According to her, he became less social and more irritable. Id. He could not concentrate as well as he could before and began to forget things. Id. His friend and coworker, Herbart "Ali" Gordon Jr. has also noticed changes in Mr. Collins in these years. AR221. Mr. Gordon served as a SEAL alongside Mr. Collins and worked with him at Blackbird. Id. According to Mr. Gordon, Mr. Collins began his employment at Blackbird as his normal "jovial hard working perfectionist self." Id. However, "over time [he] started to see changes." Id. Mr. Collins seemed to Mr. Gordon to be confused and indecisive. Id. He was depressed and withdrawn. Id. Mr. Collins also confided in Mr. Gordon that he was having trouble sleeping. Id. According to Mr. Gordon, these problems were affecting Mr. Collins life at home and at work. Id.
In the beginning of 2014, Mr. Collins sought treatment for these afflictions. He cut short a work trip that began on January 24, 2014 after he was unable to sleep. AR461. He returned home to "figure out what was going on." Id. On February 4, 2014, he went to the emergency room at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia and complained of anxiety and insomnia. AR438. In response to questioning he answered in the affirmative that he "felt down, depressed, or hopeless," that he had "less pleasure in doing things," and that he had been "losing track of his thoughts." AR440. He was given a mental status exam and found to be "alert and oriented in all spheres," "open, cooperative, and friendly an d maintained good eye contract." AR463.
Mr. Collins was admitted overnight to the inpatient psychiatric ward and given a voluntary psychiatric evaluation. AR438-9, 464. During interviews with psychiatric professionals, he "reported severe anxiety about being able to do his job." AR461. One doctor wrote that "it appears that his anxiety is provoked by work related stresses in the context of... suffering a slow decline in memory." AR465. Mr. Collins acknowledged "anxiety about losing his job because he came home from his most recent trip prior to the trip's conclusion." AR476. He also discussed the connection between his work schedule, anxiety about his work, and his insomnia: AR483. He hoped that an MRI would give the doctors what they needed to diagnosis him. Id.
The doctors there acknowledged that Mr. Collins had been exposed to "hundreds of subconcussive explosions," which raised concerns of "TBI [traumatic brain injury
] with early onset dementia. AR464. They found that his "[m]emory and cognition were impaired," AR463, and that he was "having increasing cognitive difficulties which do not appear to be entirely due to sleep deprivation." AR465. An MRI was performed, which showed that his brain was "within normal limits." AR446. There was a "single nonspecific focus of T2 hypersensitivity in the left frontal lobe." AR482.
Mr. Collins was discharged on February 5, 2014. AR446. Upon release the hospital staff concluded that he was "not considered dangerous to self or others and there was no basis for to refer for involuntary hospitalization." Id. He was "not suicidal, homicidal, or psychotic." Id. Throughout his hospitalization he had denied suicidal thoughts. Id.; see also AR440, 441, 445, 461.
On February 24, 2014, Mr. Collins began two weeks of treatment at the Carrick Brain Center ("CBC") in Irving, Texas. AR039. The Medical Director of the CBC, Dr. Andre Fredieu, M.D., in a letter authored after Mr. Collins' death on March 31, 2014, reports that Mr. Collins went to the CBC "for treatment of his insomnia, anxiety, [and] difficulties with focus and memory." Id. Dr. Fredieu identified insomnia as one of Mr. Collins' "most significant symptoms." Id. Dr. Fredieu also identified other neurological abnormalities such as tremors, poor coordination, headaches, and hypomania
. Id.
While in Texas, on February 27, 2014 and March 6, 2014, Mr. Collins attended two therapy sessions with Drs. Deborah Wade and Tracie Kaip, licensed psychologists at Lifeworks Counseling Center. AR234-38. Dr. Wade diagnosed Mr. Collins with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
, Major Depressive Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. AR236. Dr. Wade noted that during their initial meeting Mr. Collins "admitted that he felt an overwhelming sense of sadness, distress ...." AR234. He told her that "he has great worry and concern that his job is at risk, that this will burden his family financially ...." Id. He had "churning thoughts" of "self-condemnation" that he could not control. AR234-35. He felt that his inability to control these thoughts interfered with his ability to do his job. AR234. Dr. Wade recommended some coping strategies at this first session. AR235. At the second session, Mr. Collins was "visibly improved." AR235. They "continued to address tools which will help to organize his thoughts ...." Id. The session ended with "a sense of hopefulness," although "underlying the hope was a wealth of trauma/pain/irrational thought processes that continued to need work to unlock and manage." AR235-36.
On March 10, 2014, Mr. Collins visited Dr. Glenn McDermott, a primary care physician at the Minor Emergency and Family Care Center in Virginia Beach, and complained of insomnia and anxiety. AR415-16. Mr. Collins had previously been seen by Dr. McDermott on January 31, 2014 and February 18, 2014. AR413-14. Mr. Collins told Dr. McDermott that he was only sleeping two to three hours a night. AR416. Dr. McDermott proscribed for him Sonata for insomnia and Lexapro
for anxiety. Id.
Mr. Collins took his own life two days later on March 12, 2014. AR209-10, 214. He was found dead in the driver's seat of his car with a gunshot wound
to his head and a handgun lying between his legs. Id.
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