MetLife Disability Denial Rebuked by Judge Citing 9th Cir. Rule

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company improperly denied a wealth management firm employee’s long-term disability benefits because the insurer’s own conclusions show that she is disabled under an appeals court precedent, a Seattle federal judge ruled.

US District Court for the Western District of Washington Judge John C. Coughenour pointed to the 9th Circuit’s “bright-line rule,” stemming from a 2016 decision in Armani v. Nw. Mut. Life Ins. Co., that individuals who cannot sit for more than four hours in an eight-hour work day are incapable of performing sedentary jobs. The judge also chastised MetLife for ignoring its own conclusions.

“And ...