Labor Department Defends Subpoena for MetLife Annuity Documents

MetLife Inc. raised jurisdictional objections to a subpoena too early in the legal process, the U.S. Labor Department has argued in a federal lawsuit asking a judge to compel the company to hand over documents.

Attorneys for the government said in a reply memorandum filed Tuesday that the insurance giant “put the cart before the horse” by arguing that the Labor Department didn’t have jurisdiction over the company’s “de-risking” business—the process of converting employer-sponsored pensions into group annuity plans.

After MetLife admitted in 2017 that it hadn’t paid 13,000 participants their pension benefits because it hadn’t adequately attempted to contact ...