Steward Doctors Launch Fight Over Deferred Compensation Plans

Bankrupt Steward Health Care System LLC should be blocked by federal law from taking control over two employee deferred compensation trusts, worth about $60 million, a group of doctors said.

The beleaguered private health care network has sought to authorize the turnover of assets held in two “rabbi trusts” for the company to use in bankruptcy, but it has failed to show that the plans in question are exempt from protection under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the physicians said in an objection Tuesday.

“ERISA’s safeguards are clear: plan assets must be held in trust for the exclusive benefit ...