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The U.S. Department of Labor today announced it
has filed suit against Wayne B. Watson of Springville, Utah, as fiduciary of
the Wayne B. Watson Money Purchase Pension Plan and the Wayne B. Watson Profit
Sharing Plan for violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
(ERISA) or federal pension law.
The lawsuit was filed Sept. 29, 2000, in the U.S.
District Court of Utah, Central Division, in Salt Lake City.
According to Bette Briggs, San Francisco regional
director for the Pension Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA), Watson, who
was owner of the Wayne B. Watson, APC, law firm which closed in 1993, failed to
make benefit distributions to vested participants of the plans in accordance
with the plans’ documents despite repeated verbal and written requests
from the participants.
The department seeks to have Watson restore to the
plans any losses, including lost opportunity costs, resulting from his
violations of ERISA.
Also, the lawsuit asks the Court to have Watson
removed from his position as fiduciary of the plans; to have an independent
trustee appointed whose duties would include administering and terminating the
plans according to the law and making distributions to all of the plans’
participants in accordance with the plans’ documents; and requiring Watson
to pay all costs associated with the appointment and retention of the
independent trustee and the costs associated with the administration of the
plans, according to Briggs.
The complaint is the result of an investigation
conducted by the department’s San Francisco PWBA Regional Office, headed
by Briggs, into alleged violations of ERISA.
Civil Action No. 2:00CV00780C
(Herman v. Wayne
B. Watson, et al) |
