Facts

Plaintiff Thomas Reddick, a financial advisor, could no longer perform his job duties because of debilitating pain following a failed lower back surgery and difficulty concentrating. His group long-term disability insurer, defendant Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., terminated his benefits after paying them for years.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff filed an ERISA lawsuit against defendant seeking his disability benefits. Plaintiff filed two evidentiary motions to augment the trial record.

Plaintiff contended he was entitled to recover his reasonable attorney fees and costs under 29 U.S.C. section 1132(g)(1) and Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 560 U.S. 242 (2010).

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant opposed plaintiff's motions.

Defendant also argued that the firm's hourly rates were unreasonably high for an ERISA case. Defendant also contended that the number of hours billed was an excessive amount of time for plaintiff's lawyers to spend on the case. Defense contended the firm spent too much time drafting the complaint and administrative records, and staffing the case with multiple lawyers was overkill.

Result

Plaintiff prevailed on both motions, which were pivotal, as highly favorable comments by the judge forced the insurer to resolve the case. Defendant agreed to pay plaintiff all his disability benefits shortly after the evidentiary rulings, on the eve of trial. The court also granted plaintiff's motion for attorney fees and, for costs, in part.

Other Information

The court ordered defendant to pay 100 percent of plaintiff's attorney fees, totaling $293,115, and $1,276 in costs (of the $3,651 sought by plaintiff). The court concluded that plaintiff firm's hourly rates of $700, $600 and $290 were reasonable.