Third Time Is The Charm: Class Certified In DMF-Related Shareholder Suit

In City of Westland Police & Fire Retirement System v. MetLife, the plaintiffs allege that the insurer overstated its earnings because it did not hold sufficient reserves for death benefit claims on group life insurance policies that were incurred but not reported. Although MetLife used the Social Security Administration's Death Master File (DMF) to terminate annuity benefits, it did not use the DMF consistently enough to trigger life insurance benefits, according to the plaintiffs. The shareholders claim that it was only after regulators began investigating this activity that the insurers revealed the scope of the regulatory investigations, and that they also took tens of millions of dollars in charges against their reserves. The complaint alleges that stock prices fell after these revelations, causing shareholders economic harm.