Sam Malek was a team leader for a big company, a "road warrior" who traveled 90% of the time and worked 80 hour weeks. Then he had a heart attack, and had to go out on disability.

In spite of the fact that Sam's treating cardiologists said he couldn't work, Met Life, on the strength of a review by a nurse who never treated or even met Sam, denied his claim. Sam appealed the denial but, because he needed to support his family, he want back to doing a job that he wasn't really capable of doing any more.

After its denial forced Sam to return to work, Met Life seized on it as an excuse to deny his appeal. Met Life didn't bother to see how well Sam was doing at work, or worry that maybe returning to his high stress job risked a relapse. If figured that if Sam was capable of showing up for work, he couldn't be disabled.

Judge Schiavelli didn’t buy it, and overturned Met Life’s denial.