Vicki Jordan v. Northrop Grumman Corporation Welfare Benefit Plan Metropolitan Life Insurance Company

This case turns on whether the administrator of an ERISA disability plan abused her discretion.

Jordan worked as a senior administrative secretary for Northrop Grumman from 1984 to 1995. She described her job as “typing, filing, telephone, sitting, walking, standing, general administrative office procedures.” One of her fringe benefits was long term disability insurance under Northrop’s company plan for employees. In September 1995, at age 42, she made a written claim for disability benefits under the plan. She wrote that she had pain that interfered with performing her job: “With my present disability it is extremely pain [sic] to sit, stand & walk for any period. My hands & fingers are very, very sore achy painful and prevents [sic] me from performing my every day secretarial functions. I am also experiencing lower back pain & swollen feet & leg pain/numbness.” She stated that her disability was fibromyalgia, had begun in May, and that she was receiving “state disability.” Additionally, she wrote that, “I’m a single parent. It is very, very difficult trying to meet my present obligations with the income that I am presently receiving from state disability. I would appreciate any…