A Tennessee man who suffers from depression has filed a federal lawsuit against the Aetna insurance company, alleging that the Hartford-based insurer refuses to cover a magnetic therapy treatment for his condition.

The claim, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, seeks class action status. Attorneys from LeClairRyan and a California law firm called Psych-Appeal, which focuses on mental-health coverage cases, are among those representing the plaintiff. The claim names as defendants Aetna Inc., Aetna Life Insurance Co., both of Hartford, and MCMC LLC of Massachusetts.

Aetna denied Christopher Meidl's request for coverage of therapeutic repetitive NeuroStar transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, therapy, on the ground that it fell under an exclusion in Meidl's health care plan that doesn't cover services deemed to be experimental, investigational or unproven, according to the lawsuit. TMS uses an electromagnet to generate repeated pulsed magnetic fields that stimulate nerve cells in the region of the brain associated with mood control, according to the lawsuit.