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Release Date: March 27, 2008
Release Number: 08-184-ATL (082)
Contact Name: Dan Fuqua/Michael Wald
Phone Number: 404.562.2078/404.562.2076
Atlanta – The U.S. Department of Labor has
sued two officers of the Georgia Plumbers Trade Association (GPTA) in
Griffin, Georgia, for failing to oversee, monitor and control the assets
of the Georgia Plumbers Trade Association Health Plan in violation of
the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of Georgia, Newnan Division, seeks a court order to
require Ron Anderson and Windell Peters to restore all losses caused by
their fiduciary misconduct, which resulted in plan losses of more than
$500,000.
“Workers and their families have been saddled with
unpaid health claims because of the improper actions of the defendants
in the Georgia Plumbers case,” said Bradford P. Campbell, assistant
secretary for the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security
Administration (EBSA). “This legal action seeks to restore lost assets
needed to pay the health claims of these workers.”
During the time that the health plan was active,
Anderson served as GPTA’s secretary and executive director, and Peters
was GPTA’s president. Both served as fiduciaries of the health plan.
The plan was set up as a self-funded ERISA plan, but the complaint
alleges that the defendants failed to determine whether contributions
rates were sufficient to cover the claims and other expenses of the
plan. Participants were left with unpaid claims when the plan was
terminated in 2004.
The suit also asks the court to appoint an
independent fiduciary to manage the plan’s assets and to bar the
defendants from acting in any fiduciary capacity for any employee
benefit plan subject to ERISA. In January, the Labor Department settled
a separate lawsuit against Marc Meixner, who acted as an insurance
broker for GPTA and was president of GPTA Benefits Group Inc.
The health plan was sponsored by the Georgia Plumbers
Trade Association for Continuing Education Inc., a nonprofit
organization now operating in Manchester, Ga. The association provides
education and resources to assist Georgia plumbers in complying with
building code changes.
The case was investigated by EBSA’s Atlanta
Regional Office, which can be reached at 404.302.3900 or toll-free at
866.444.3272 for help with problems relating to private sector
retirement and health plans. In fiscal year 2007, EBSA achieved monetary
results of $1.5 billion related to pension, 401(k), health and other
benefits for millions of American workers and their families.
Chao v. Anderson & Peters
Civil Action File Number 3:08-CV-013-JTC
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