Class Action Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Retirees Claiming That MetLife Took More Than $500 Million of Their Pension Benefits ...
June 19 2018 - 6:51PM
Business Wire
Berman Tabacco and Bailey & Glasser LLP, two of the leading
law firms representing investors and consumers nationwide, have
filed a class action lawsuit against MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET) and
certain of its affiliates (collectively, “MetLife” or the
“Company”) on behalf of retirees who were allegedly unfairly denied
timely payment of their pension benefits over the last 25
years.
The suit, filed in the United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York, alleges that MetLife has publicly
acknowledged that it failed to keep track of pension annuity
beneficiaries (“beneficiaries”), failed to contact them, and failed
to pay them their benefits when due for as long as 25 years.
Instead of paying the pension annuity benefits to beneficiaries or
turning them over to states under unclaimed property law, MetLife
allegedly kept the money and has acknowledged that it owes as many
as 30,000 beneficiaries more than $500 million in annuity
benefits.
The suit also alleges that after some feeble attempts to contact
beneficiaries, MetLife closed its files and kept the money for
itself. Now, years later, the suit alleges that MetLife has
promised to try harder to reunite the retirees with their
money.
The lawsuit claims that MetLife’s methods for notifying
beneficiaries of their eligibility for pension benefits appear
designed to ensure that many retirees would never be paid so that
MetLife could convert the payments to its own use. The suit alleges
that MetLife acknowledges that it made only two attempts to contact
these pension beneficiaries – one at age 65 and the only other at
age 70.5 – and made no effort to locate individuals if the mailings
were returned as undeliverable. If the beneficiary did not respond
to this half-hearted outreach, plaintiffs alleged, that it was
MetLife’s practice to convert the reserve for these benefits and
treat the beneficiaries’ retirement benefits as income to itself.
It is alleged that MetLife’s notices did not even identify the
former employer of the retirees.
MetLife has revealed that it is responding to questions from its
lead state regulator in New York and other state regulators. The
Company has also said that the Securities and Exchange Commission
enforcement staff “has made an inquiry” about the matter.
Berman Tabacco and Bailey & Glasser bring this class action
to obtain damages and other relief for these forgotten retirees,
and to remedy the harm caused by MetLife’s alleged conversion of
these annuity pension benefits to its own use. If you have any
information relevant to this lawsuit, or if you have questions
about this lawsuit please contact: Mark Delaney of Berman Tabacco
at (617) 542-8300 or mdelaney@bermantabacco.com; or Gregory Porter
of Bailey & Glasser at 202-463-2101 or
gporter@baileyglasser.com or visit
https://www.metlifemissingpensions.com/
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180619006484/en/
Berman TabaccoMark Delaney,
617-542-8300mdelaney@bermantabacco.comwww.bermantabacco.comorBailey
& GlasserGregory Porter,
202-463-2101gporter@baileyglasser.comwww.baileyglasser.com
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