Although MetLife has tried to escape a retired Mayer Brown equity partner’s lawsuit claiming that the company wrongfully denied disability benefits, the court refused to toss the disability insurance lawsuit.

According to the court, ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act) did not block the plaintiff’s claims, and so the disability insurance lawsuit could not be tossed.

Plaintiff Mary F. alleges that MetLife wrongfully found that her vision problems did not fit its definition of a disabled under her insurance policy, despite the fact that those vision problems forced her into retirement.

Affirming a lower court’s judgment in favor of another plaintiff, the appeals judges decided that ERISA didn’t preempt an Illinois state law blocking provisions under which insurers say they have the discretion to interpret health and disability insurance policies.

The plaintiff practiced in Mayer Brown’s structured finance group for 30 years, and retired in 2011 due to vision problems, said court documents. The duties of her job necessitate a high level of performance at a rapid pace, but her vision problems disallowed this kind of performance to continue.

Two days after her vision problems forced her into early retirement, Mary filed for MetLife disability benefits. According to court documents, Mary’s disability insurance plan stipulated that MetLife’s disability benefit determinations should be followed unless they were proven to be “arbitrary and capricious.”

While MetLife claims that its denial of benefits for Mary F. wasn’t arbitrary and capricious, U.S. District Judge Joan B. Gottschall held that Mary had provided a great deal of evidence showing the validity of her disability.

MetLife Lawsuits

About 3 percent of insurance claims are denied, so most Americans have nothing to worry about when it comes to filing for disability insurance. For the few that do run into claim denials, it can feel hopeless. However, there are ways to move forward. Patients have a fairly good chance of their appeal going through and turning the original denial around, and if an appeal doesn’t work, a lawsuit can work instead.

Some consumers who have been denied disability benefits by MetLife despite having a legitimate insurance claim have chosen to fight back by filing a disability insurance lawsuit. These MetLife lawsuits allege that the insurance company deliberately denied legitimate insurance claims in the interest of boosting their profits, and at the expense of consumers.

Injured consumers with legitimate disability insurance claims are left in the lurch, lacking income as well as disability benefits to support them on top of the already complicated issues that disabilities bring to daily life.

If you or someone you know has been wrongfully denied disability insurance or other insurance from an insurer such as MetLife, you may be able to file a disability benefits lawsuit.

If you or someone you know has been wrongfully denied disability insurance or other insurance from an insurer such as MetLife, you may be able to file a disability benefits lawsuit.