Georgia's state insurance commissioner levied a $1 million fine Wednesday against UnumProvident Corporation, the nation's largest disability insurer, after determining the company fraudulently handled claims. The fine is the largest ever imposed against a company by Georgia insurance officials. Upon issuing the penalty, State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine said UnumProvident executives looked "for every technical legal way to avoid paying a claim."

Insurance regulators first became suspicious of UnumProvident's practices in the fall of 2002 when NBC's Dateline and the CBS news program 60 Minutes ran stories on the company's insurance claim policies, revealing UnumProvident's propensity to unilaterally deny claims without any basis. According to former employee and company physician interviews, UnumProvident, which reportedly insures 25 million people and issues one out of four disability policies in the United States, intentionally withheld benefit information, destroyed critical medical reports and used biased doctors to deny claims in an effort to increase profits.

A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance announced Wednesday that the agency was continuing a review of UnumProvident's claims practices and would decide whether to impose sanctions against the company.