Employees Retirement System of Texas v. Blount

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

After her husband’s death, Joyce M. Blount sued Employees Retirement System of Texas (“ERS”) and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in Travis County District Court, seeking a trial de novo for a contested insurance claim arising under a uniform group insurance program for state employees. Metropolitan paid $4,000 in basic life insurance but denied payment of her $46,000 claim for optional accidental death benefits. In December of 1981, the ERS Board of Trustees recommended a denial of the accidental death benefits. The trial court reviewed the record under substantial…