MetLife Board Secures Win Over $500 Million Annuity Error Claims

MetLife Inc.’s board persuaded Delaware’s top court Monday to uphold its victory against oversight claims involving the insurer’s practice of counting pensioners as dead if they didn’t respond to its letters, instead of consulting official records.

The state’s justices affirmed a Delaware Chancery Court ruling dismissing the case “on the basis of and for the reasons” stated in an August opinion by Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III, who said the lawsuit showed at most a “failure of prudence” or “a lack of imagination” by MetLife’s board.

The shareholder derivative suit concerned MetLife’s “pension risk transfer” operations, a long-running business line ...