ERISA Watch – April 5, 2016

Happy Tuesday! This week’s notable decision is a long term disability case out of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, Zuke v. Am. Airlines, Inc., No. 15-3465. The court determined that MetLife was arbitrary and capricious by ignoring reliable, objective evidence from Plaintiff’s treating physicians. MetLife claimed that there was no objective evidence supporting disability but the court found that the claimant’s medical records did contain objective evidence, including MRI results showing fairly extensive degenerative disc disease and orthopedic tests indicating the existence of radicular pain. Notwithstanding MetLife’s abuse of discretion, the court remanded the claim to MetLife to conduct the full and fair review it should have conducted in the first instance.

There were lots of decisions this past week. Several of them will be reported in next week’s edition of ERISA Watch. In the meantime, enjoy this week’s highlights!