Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
Metropolitan Life insurance Company, often known as MetLife, is a 150-year-old insurance company. The company has roughly 90 million customers across the globe and is one of the world’s largest providers of employee benefits, insurance, and annuities. It is the 43rd-largest corporation in the US, according to 2018’s Fortune 500 list.
MetLife has used a variety of strategies to retain as large a share of corporate profits as possible—strategies which often operate at their customers’ expense. MetLife has been the frequent target of lawsuits, many of which have been based on a complete failure to pay customers the benefits they’re owed. Life insurance and annuity policyholders who don’t get the benefits they’re owed often need the help of experienced insurance bad faith lawyers to get results. The California life insurance and annuity attorneys at Gianelli & Morris can help you understand your rights as an insurance customer and help to ensure that they aren’t violated by greedy corporate actions. Find out if you’re a good candidate to file a bad faith insurance claim by contacting the Los Angeles offices of Gianelli & Morris for a free consultation.
Failure to respond to a letter leads to loss of pension benefits
In late 2018 and early 2019, MetLife revealed that about 13,500 group annuity policyholders had never received the benefits they were owed over the previous 25 years. MetLife purchased these policies from different insurers. The policyholders were notified by two letters—sent not from their original insurer, but from an unfamiliar company—that they needed to respond to notify MetLife that they were still alive, so they could receive their benefits. When these policyholders didn’t respond to either letter—sent multiple years apart—MetLife declared them dead or otherwise ineligible and no longer reserved funds for the payment of their benefits. Only now are these benefits being paid.
Settlement compensates beneficiaries with retained asset accounts
Retained asset accounts, also known as checkbook-style accounts, are a way for insurance companies to profit off of benefits they owe to policyholders. The insurers hold these funds in investment accounts that generate profits and interest for the insurer. Instead of offering lump-sum payouts to policyholders, carriers allow them to draw down on the sums using a checkbook provided by the insurer. MetLife has made liberal use of this practice, automatically enrolling millions of policyholders in benefit payout through retained asset accounts. Thousands of policyholders fought back, filing class-action lawsuits to demand payment via a lump sum. In recent months, MetLife has settled many of these class claims for hundreds of millions of dollars.
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A legal ally in the fight for the life insurance benefits you deserve
Receiving the payout from a life insurance policy can feel like a godsend after the death of a loved one. Life insurance policy proceeds can help your family survive the loss of income, the costs of a funeral, and any outstanding medical expenses that accrued while your loved one was in their final days. If you’re counting on the money you believe you’re owed from a life insurance policy, but that amount is never paid or is sharply reduced from what you believe you’re owed, this can cause serious hardship. But fighting a global corporation shortly after suffering the heartbreaking loss of a loved one might feel impossible. Don’t try to fight these mega-corporations alone. Get help from the Southern California bad faith insurance lawyers at Gianelli & Morris.
For a no-cost consultation on your MetLife insurance claim denial, contact the seasoned, effective, and trial-ready Los Angeles bad faith insurance lawyers Gianelli & Morris at 213-489-1600.
