MetLife Faces Suit Over Postal Worker Who Froze to Death

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. must defend a lawsuit seeking death benefits on behalf of a postal worker who allegedly froze to death after finishing a shift in blizzard-like conditions.

MetLife said the worker’s family filed their lawsuit long after a two-year deadline in the relevant benefit plan had lapsed. But this wasn’t a reason to dismiss the case, because MetLife’s argument relied on a document outside the complaint, Judge Esther Salas of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ruled Jan. 8.

The lawsuit sought accidental death benefits on behalf of postal worker James McCauley, who allegedly ...