This is the case of Spina v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, in the U. S. District Court District of New Jersey where the court has allowed the plaintiff’s bad faith claim against MetLife to proceed to trial.
Plaintiffs Dante C. Spina Sr. and Lyndajean K. Spina allege that MetLife denied long-term health benefits, based on its investigation that allegedly revealed facts that indicated the plaintiffs were not as incapacitated as they claimed.
As a result, the insurer contacted the district attorney and pursued insurance fraud claims against the plaintiffs. The D.A. presented its claims to the grand jury, but the charges were dismissed the same day.
The plaintiffs filed suit against the insurer seeking coverage, damages for bad faith conduct, and violation of the Consumer Fraud Act (CFA).
In response, the insurer moved to dismiss all counts.
However, the court found that the plaintiffs properly pleaded their claim for a breach of contract; the court then addressed the plaintiff’s bad faith claim and also allowed those claims to proceed to trial.
