A former class A lineman for Quanta Services, Inc. in the state of South Carolina has recently come forward to file a legal claim under the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 regarding MetLife disability insurance.

On Dec. 4, 2018, plaintiff Jimmy T. registered his lawsuit against the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.  in the Court of Common Pleas in the state of South Carolina. According to the MetLife disability lawsuit, the complainant has been an enrollee in Quanta’s short-term disability (STD) and long-term disability (LTD) plans of which the defendant has and is a fiduciary.

Jimmy says he was an employee of Quanta from February 2011 to June 2015. Through no fault of his own, he says he became disabled and unable to continue working in the capacity of lineman or any other closely related position to which he was qualified, according to the MetLife disability lawsuit, 

According to his lawsuit, he had been diagnosed with a rare form of arthritis known as ankylosis spondylitis and additionally suffered from rheumatoid arthritis of the spine. He says he had to discontinue working due to these ailments around mid-June 2015 and assumed that the MetLife disability insurance plan to which he had enrolled would cover him.

Reportedly, Jimmy was not remiss in filing the necessary paperwork to activate his MetLife disability insurance, turning it in by June 25, 2015. A MetLife disability insurance specialist acknowledged receipt of his application and made initial approval of his claim by mid-July of that year.

According to the plaintiff’s lawsuit narrative, the defendant’s records acknowledge the medical care findings of complainant’s treating physicians. These records state that one such physician—Dr. Aldrich—completed bloodwork and other evaluations.

This doctor allegedly certified Jimmy to be indefinitely disabled with critical spine issues and unable to work for an indefinite period of time. Documentation indicating acknowledgement of these findings was among defendant’s records and dated Sept. 4, 2015, the lawsuit reads.

According to the MetLife disability lawsuit, further investigation of these notes reveal an acknowledgment that patient frequently could not bend over, was compromised when it came to driving, and experienced pain continuously every day, oft to the point of being confined to bed.

The short-term MetLife disability insurance review recommended coverage of the claim through mid-December 2015, and on Dec. 14 the claim transferred to long-term coverage status, the lawsuit reads.

From internal notes discussing the claim, MetLife disability insurance reviewers noted the heavy physicality of the work involved in being a class A lineman. The job requires the ability to bend, stoop, kneel, climb, pull, reach and carry—according to the lawsuit—up to 100 pounds.

Notes written in January and February 2016 allegedly support the disability claim as Jimmy says he was clearly unable to perform these requirements.

By December 2016, numerous inquiries were allegedly being made into whether the plaintiff was in receipt of Social Security Disability Benefits by the defendant regardless of his disabled status and the lack of expected medical change in condition at that point.

By the following August—according to the ERISA lawsuit—MetLife had denied complainant’s LTD by claiming that Jimmy had no functional physical limitations to going to work. According to the MetLife disability lawsuit, he appealed this decision and was denied by the defendant a second time by the end of March 2018.

This latest letter from the insurance giant has given him cause to file this legal claim as all other available remedies to get the benefits due him have been attempted but to no avail.

Jimmy seeks restoration of all his benefits through the filing of his case under ERISA as well as liquidated damages and all court and attorney fees associated with this action.

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-03262-RMG in the Court of Common Pleas for the State of South Carolina.

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