Metropolitan Life Insurance Company v. Mildred Johnson v. Lashanda Smith, Leonard Smith and Carolyn Hall

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• Considering “whether the insured evidences his or her intent and attempts to effectuate the change [of beneficiary] by undertaking positive actions”
• \[t]he Illinois doctrine of substantial compliance applies generally to life insurance policy beneficiary designations\
• “But, we have emphasized the importance of local rules and ‘have consistently and repeatedly upheld a district court’s discretion to require strict compliance with its local rules . . ..’”
• substantial compliance where participant failed to sign and date a form
• noting Sev- enth Circuit’s adoption of the Phoenix Mutual test
• “ERISA requires that courts apply a federal common-law rule.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).