High Court Won’t Hear GM Retirees’ Lawsuit Challenging MetLife’s Plan Communications

The U.S. Supreme Court announced April 7 that it won’t review an appellate court decision that a proposed class of General Motors Corp. retirees failed to state valid promissory estoppel and fiduciary breach claims against Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. (Haviland v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., U.S., No. 13-905).

A split panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in September 2013 found that the retirees couldn’t have reasonably relied on statements by MetLife that their insurance benefits would continue for life, because GM’s welfare plan included an unambiguous reservation-of-rights clause stating that benefits could be ...