Ex-Troutman Pepper Litigator Loses Disability Benefits Appeal

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. properly ended the disability benefits of a former Troutman Pepper Locke LLP litigator with bipolar disorder, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled Thursday.

Therapy records following the litigator’s discharge from a partial hospitalization program don’t show any cognitive issues that would prevent her from working, the court said. That’s a clear contrast from the earlier records informing MetLife’s initial decision to pay benefits, the panel’s unpublished opinion said, because those showed impaired decision-making ability, interpersonal functioning, and stress tolerance—all “critical” to her work as a litigator.

• MetLife paid Stacy Hovan disability benefits ...