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Goot v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County11/9/2005
I. Metropolitan Government's Group Life Insurance Benefit
The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, like most large public and private employers, provides group insurance benefits to its employees. Ever since 1965, it has provided life insurance coverage to active employees and former employees who are receiving disability or retirement benefits. The New York Life Insurance Company issued the first group term life insurance policy in 1965, and Aetna Life Insurance Company replaced New York Life Insurance Company in 1999. The Metropolitan Government is responsible for paying the premiums for this policy, and the insurance companies are responsible for determining eligibility and paying the claims.
At all times relevant to this case, the group term life insurance policy provided active city employees with life insurance coverage equal to twice their annual salary to a maximum of $50,000. Former employees receiving a disability or service pension were entitled to $7,500 in coverage. However, the policy also contained a waiver of premium provision that entitled employees who became disabled before their sixtieth birthday to maintain their life insurance coverage at the same level they had as active employees without continuing to pay the premiums that had been paid by the Metropolitan Government while they were active employees. To be eligible for this benefit, the disabled former employee was required to be "disabled" as defined in the insurance policy, and the employee seeking the waiver of premium benefit was required to apply to the insurance company for this benefit within two years after being found eligible for a disability pension.
The life insurance benefits payable to the spouses of eligible disabled employees differed significantly depending on whether the employee established his or her right to the waiver of premium benefit. The spouses of disabled employees who had not qualified for the benefit received $7,500 upon the death of their spouse. However, the spouses of disabled employees who qualified for the benefit and who had earned $25,000 or more when they were active employees received $50,000 upon the death of their spouse.
II. The Claims of the Surviving Spouses
The three lawsuits giving rise to this appeal involve the surviving spouses of five employees of the Metropolitan Government who became disabled and took disability retirement between 1985 and 1996. Roy Bush, a budget director, began drawing disability benefits in January 1985 following his second open heart surgery. Following his death in April 14, 1992, his widow, Dot Bush Goot, received life insurance benefits in the amount of $7,548.75. Blant Duke, a civil warrant processor in the Davidson County Sheriff's Department, qualified for disability benefits in February 1985. When he died, his widow, Bobbie Jane Duke, received $7,544.68. Gene Jackson, an employee of the Department of Public Works, was a member of the old Davidson County pension plan because he had declined to become a member of the Metropolitan Employee Benefit System. He qualified for a disability pension in January 1987 because of heart problems. After he died on June 18, 1998, his widow, Wanda Faye Jackson, received $7,543.88. Clyde Taylor, a sergeant with the Metropolitan Police Department, qualified for a disability pension in 1992. Following his death on April 7, 2000, his widow, Norma H. Taylor, received $7,500. Finally, Marilyn Reese, an employee at General Hospital, qualified for disability in February 1996 after injuring her back. After she died on April 9, 2001, her surviving husband, Joe Lloyd Reese, received $7,500.
The surviving spouses of these five employees l
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