Today, December 29, 2009, the Seventh Circuit remanded a case back to MetLife for further assessment of a short-term disability claim for failure to acknowledge objective evidence reported during the claimant’s Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE), and other functional assessments from the claimant’s treating physician. Specifically, although the FCE examiner concluded the claimant could perform medium level work, he also noted that he was incapable of sitting or typing. The Court noted that in the past it held that both ignoring evidence in an FCE “out of hand” that a claimant was not capable of sitting, and ignoring a treating physician’s medical conclusions without explanation, was arbitrary and capricious. The Court also noted that ignoring key evidence in the case at bar was a failure to afford the Plaintiff a full and fair review. However, the Court declined to reverse MetLife’s disability claim determination and instead remanded the claim back to MetLife for additional review, noting that this was not a case where the only determination that MetLife could reasonably make is that the claimant is disabled. Majeski v. MetLife
