Verizon’s disability benefits plan lost a bid to repossess more than $40,000 in benefits disbursed to a previous employee by initiating a lawsuit against her lawyer. The focus of the case was an unsettled ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) question concerning the responsibility of proof.
In this instance, Verizon failed to establish that the former employee’s lawyer still had in his possession his $31,618 share from a personal injury settlement he brokered with the driver responsible for the accident involving the employee. This became a significant obstacle for Verizon in their endeavor to receive reimbursement according to ERISA stipulations.
The verdict was delivered by Judge Mary S. McElroy who stated that the statute only authorizes lawsuits to recover specific property in the defendant’s possession. The law does not permit lawsuits looking for compensation in the form of monetary damages in a general sense.
Unfortunately, the full details of this case remain behind a paywall. For more detailed information and legal analysis, you can follow this link to the original article on the Bloomberg Law website.