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Goot v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County11/9/2005
ht of the state of the pleadings and the Metropolitan Government's representations regarding the terms of the waiver of premium benefit during the pretrial proceedings. Based on the facts of this case, Mmes. Goot, Taylor, and Duke were not required to introduce a copy of the group life insurance contract in order to make out a prima facie breach of employment contract claim.
1.
All three surviving spouses alleged in their amended complaint that the Metropolitan Government provided its employees with group life insurance that contained a waiver of premium benefit for disabled employees. They also alleged that their spouses were eligible for this benefit and that their spouses would have qualified for it had they been told about it. In addition, they alleged that the Metropolitan Government breached its employment contract with their spouses by failing to inform them of the waiver of premium benefit in a timely manner and that as a result of this breach of contract, they received only $7,500 in death benefits as opposed to the $50,000 in death benefits they would have received had their spouse applied for the waiver of premium benefit in a timely manner.
The Metropolitan Government never filed an answer to the amended complaint or any of the earlier complaints filed by Mmes. Goot, Taylor, and Duke. However, in October 2002, it filed a motion for summary judgment and statements of undisputed fact regarding each surviving spouse's claim. It supported the motion and statements with the depositions of each of the surviving spouses and with the affidavit of its Assistant Director of Human Resources regarding the group life insurance policy and the waiver of premium provision. In its statements of undisputed facts, the Metropolitan Government asserted:
The Metropolitan Government provides life insurance coverage for its employees and former employees receiving a disability pension or a service pension.
Active employees receive life insurance coverage equal to twice their annual salary to a maximum of $50,000. Former employees receiving a service or disability pension receive coverage of a $7,500.
Employees who become disabled before the age of 60 can apply of a "waiver of premium" which, if approved, allows them to maintain their life insurance coverage at the same level they had as an active employee.
In order to receive approval for the waiver of premium and maintain the higher coverage, a disabled former employee must be disabled within the definition set forth in the insurance policy and make application to the life insurance company within the appropriate time frame.
The determination of whether a former employee qualifies for the waiver of premium benefit rests solely with the life insurance company.
The surviving spouses responded to the Metropolitan Government's statements of undisputed facts by stating that they did not dispute these facts. The case proceeded to trial after the trial court declined to find that the Metropolitan Government was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law on the surviving spouses' breach of employment contract claims.
At trial, the lawyer representing the Metropolitan Government conceded that the plaintiffs' spouses received group life insurance coverage when they were city employees and that this life insurance coverage contained a waiver of premium provision. However, the lawyer specifically declined to stipulate that the employees did not receive adequate notice of the waiver of premium benefit or that each of the surviving spouse's damages amounted to approximately $42,500. Thereafter, each of the surviving spouses testified (1) regarding her und
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