MetLife Disability Benefits Suit To Get Redo Under New Standard

A Continental Automotive Inc. employee seeking disability benefits secured a Fourth Circuit decision giving him another chance to prove his case against Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

The district court decision affirming MetLife’s denial of benefits was issued before the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit announced how courts should handle these cases, the appeals court said in an unpublished opinion Tuesday reviving Tracy Penland’s lawsuit.

The Fourth Circuit vacated MetLife’s victory and instructed the district court to reconsider the case during a judge-only trial, as required by the appeals court’s 2022 decision in Tekmen v. Reliance Standard Life ...