Motley Rice appointed co-lead of litigation filed for MetLife investors

On Sept. 19, 2018, U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr., of the Eastern District of New York, appointed Motley Rice LLC as co-lead counsel for a class of MetLife, Inc., shareholders who purchased the company’s common stock between Feb. 27, 2013 and Jan. 29, 2018.

Allegations against MetLife

Plaintiffs allege that MetLife and certain of its executives misled investors about the effectiveness and accuracy of the company’s financial reporting. On Dec. 15, 2017, MetLife announced it had been unable to locate some of its annuitant beneficiaries who had changed jobs, relocated, or for whom the company otherwise did not have updated contact information. MetLife said it planned to develop a wider set of search techniques and to better use available technology to attempt to resolve the issue. Following the company’s announcement, media reports discussing the company’s failure to pay monthly pension benefits to tens of thousands of people were published. The total amount owed could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, financial analysts determined.

The discovery caused the price of MetLife shares to fall significantly, negatively impacting investors, plaintiffs allege.

Motley Rice attorneys Jim Hughes, Joshua Littlejohn, Christopher Moriarty, and Meredith Weatherby,  along with co-lead counsel Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, will litigate the case on behalf of the proposed class of shareholders. Lead plaintiffs will file an amended complaint later this year.  

Read the complaint.

Read the leadership order.