Jacqueline Hillman, Petitioner v. Judy A. Maretta (569 U.S. 483)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 3, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 569 U.S. 483 · 133 S. Ct. 1943
- Decided
- June 3, 2013
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Sotomayor
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court. The Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Act of 1954 (FEGLIA), 5 U.S.C. § 8701 et seq., establishes a life insurance program for federal employees. FEGLIA provides that an employee may designate a beneficiary to receive the proceeds of his life insurance at the time of his death. § 8705(a). Separately, a Virginia statute addresses the situation in which an employee's marital status has changed, but he did not update his beneficiary designation before his death. Section 20-111.1(D) of the Virginia Code renders a former spouse liable for insurance proceeds to whoever would have received them under applicable law, usually a widow or widower, but for the beneficiary designation. Va.Code Ann. § 20-111.1(D) (Lexis Supp. 2012). This case presents the question whether the remedy created by § 20-111.1(D) is pre-empted by FEGLIA and its implementing regulations. We hold that it is. I A In 1954, Congress enacted FEGLIA to "provide low-cost group life insurance to Federal employees." H.R.Rep. No. 2579, 83d Cong., 2d Sess., 1 (1954). The program is administered by the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM). 5 U.S.C. § 8716. Pursuant to the authority granted to it by FEGLIA, OPM entered into a life insurance contract with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. See § 8709; 5 CFR § 870.102 (2013). Individual employees enrolled…
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