Radiologist tries new tactic in long-running legal battle with MassMutual over denied disability claim
A Massachusetts radiologist is suing Fortune 500 financial services firm MassMutual following a rejected disability insurance claim.
Jeffrey C. Allard, MD, of Wilbraham, Mass., and his attorneys filed the complaint on Aug. 19 in the Hampden County Superior Court. Starting in 2018, the radiologist had submitted disability claims to MassMutual based on multiple medical conditions including impaired vision.
He had paid over $334,000 in premiums to the Springfield, Massachusetts-based company and believed he was entitled to another $300,000 in benefits for missing work. However, MassMutual fought the claims in court, which a judge dismissed last year and was followed by a failed appeal, MassLive first reported Thursday.
But Allard and his attorneys are now challenging that decision. They charge that Matthew Welnicki—a licensed attorney with Kenny & Sams, which represented MassMutual in the last case—tapped the help of another attorney who was unqualified to participate. Welnicki purportedly sponsored Sandra Jones, who at the time was not a member in good standing of the Massachusetts bar, the complaint claims, nor was she licensed or authorized to practice in the state.
However, Welnicki allegedly deferred to Jones in managing the case and handling litigation strategy, the radiologist and his attorneys note. They later learned in November 2023 that she was never properly admitted to practice in Massachusetts, which prompted an emergency motion to admit her.
“In-house counsel of MassMutual failed to review the docket and discover this criminal behavior or discovered it and concealed it, in the hope it would never be discovered,” plaintiff attorneys charge. “Jones' involvement in the litigation poisoned the proceedings, including … her sole involvement in mediation and depositions,” they added later.
Allard is seeking damages including “wasted time and money” litigating the previous case. They’re requesting a jury trial to determine how much the radiologist is owed, which would include compensatory damages, attorney fees and other costs. MassMutual had not yet filed a response as of Thursday, according to Hampden County court records.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.