Alcatel-Lucent Wins $208K in Pension Fight With Employee

Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. won more than $200,000 in its lawsuit against former employees who failed to return mistaken payments from the company’s retirement plan (Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. v. Borlabi, 2016 BL 192977, D.N.J., No. 2:13-cv-04543, unpublished 6/16/16).

A federal judge held one of the employees liable as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, because she improperly retained control over assets of an ERISA plan. The judge entered a $207,645 default judgment in favor of Alcatel-Lucent after explaining that the employee failed to properly respond to the company’s lawsuit.

Importantly, Alcatel-Lucent sought only $207,645 ...