Attorney Michelle Lee Roberts's Legal Cases

Employee benefits

Chacko v. AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3, No. 2:19-CV-01837-DAD-DB, 2023 WL 5806455 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 7, 2023)

Sep 07, 2023

OUTCOME: Judgment granted to Plaintiff

order in favor of plaintiff finding financial conflict of interest justified low-to-moderate level of skepticism in reviewing Sedgwick’s decision and procedural irregularities justified moderate level ... of skepticism; finding Sedgwick abused its discretion in terminating disability benefits where it failed to meaningfully consider job requirements, relied on inaccurate and misleading reasons and inadequate paper reviews, and failed to meaningfully consider plaintiff’s SSDI award

Employee benefits

Hamid v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 517 F.Supp.3d 903 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 5, 2021)

Feb 05, 2021

OUTCOME: Judgment granted to Plaintiff

Overturning MetLife’s denial of short- and long-term disability benefits

Employee benefits

Chacko v. AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3, 2020 WL 1984171 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 27, 2020)

Apr 27, 2020

OUTCOME: Summary judgment granted to plaintiff

Granting Plaintiff’s request for discovery on independent physician consultant’s financial conflict of interest

Employee benefits

Dawson-Murdock v. Nat’l Counseling Grp., Inc., 931 F.3d 269 (4th Cir. 2019)

Jul 24, 2019

OUTCOME: settled

The Fourth Circuit clarified what it means to be an ERISA fiduciary and vacated the dismissal of the plaintiff's breach of fiduciary duty claim.

Employee benefits

Sangha v. Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York, _F.Supp.3d_, 2018 WL 3023514 (N.D. Cal. 2018)

Jun 18, 2018

OUTCOME: Won at judgment

The plaintiff was disabled due to neck and back pain caused by degenerative disc disease. Cigna terminated the plaintiff's claim after paying benefits for nearly four years. The court reversed Cigna' ... s decision and found that she met the definition of disability under the policy.

Employee benefits

 Demer v. IBM Corp. LTD Plan, 835 F.3d 893 (9th Cir. 2016)

May 16, 2017

OUTCOME: settled

reversing summary judgment in favor of MetLife and finding that MetLife abused its discretion in the way that it reviewed Demer’s claim for long-term disability benefits

Employee benefits

 Bush v. Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston, 130 F.Supp.3d 1320 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 16, 2015)

Mar 01, 2017

OUTCOME: settled

obtained class action settlement exceeding $1.4 million and injunctive relief on behalf of U.S. Veterans.

Employee benefits

 Barboza v. California Ass’n of Prof’l Firefighters, 144 F.Supp.3d 1151 (E.D. Cal. Nov. 17, 2015)

Nov 17, 2015

OUTCOME: settled

granting summary judgment to Plaintiff on issue of disability plan offset

Employee benefits

 Hirschkron v. Principal Life Ins. Co., 141 F.Supp.3d 1028 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 29, 2015)

Oct 29, 2015

OUTCOME: settled

held that plan administrator’s decision denying LTD benefits was subject to de novo, rather than arbitrary and capricious, standard of review

Employee benefits

Barnes v. AT&T Pension Benefit Plan-Nonbargained Program, 273 F.R.D. 562 (N.D. Cal. 2011)

N/A

OUTCOME:

granting Plaintiff’s motion to modify the class certification order and leave to amend the complaint

Michelle Lee Roberts's Legal Cases (12)

Chacko v. AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3, No. 2:19-CV-01837-DAD-DB, 2023 WL 5806455 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 7, 2023)

Hamid v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 517 F.Supp.3d 903 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 5, 2021)

Chacko v. AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3, 2020 WL 1984171 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 27, 2020)

Dawson-Murdock v. Nat’l Counseling Grp., Inc., 931 F.3d 269 (4th Cir. 2019)

Sangha v. Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York, _F.Supp.3d_, 2018 WL 3023514 (N.D. Cal. 2018)

 Demer v. IBM Corp. LTD Plan, 835 F.3d 893 (9th Cir. 2016)

 Bush v. Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston, 130 F.Supp.3d 1320 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 16, 2015)

 Barboza v. California Ass’n of Prof’l Firefighters, 144 F.Supp.3d 1151 (E.D. Cal. Nov. 17, 2015)

 Hirschkron v. Principal Life Ins. Co., 141 F.Supp.3d 1028 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 29, 2015)

Barnes v. AT&T Pension Benefit Plan-Nonbargained Program, 273 F.R.D. 562 (N.D. Cal. 2011)