Hormel Foods Stumbles in Mistaken Identity Pension Clawback Suit

Hormel Foods Corp. lost a round in its effort to recoup about $16,000 in pension benefits mistakenly paid to someone with the same name as a former worker, when a federal magistrate judge said the company lacked a viable claim under federal law.

The woman Hormel mistakenly paid benefits to had no connection to the company’s pension plan, Magistrate Judge Erica P. Grosjean said in a Wednesday recommendation. She therefore doesn’t qualify as a plan fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which is fatal to the company’s claim under the statute, Grosjean said.

The dispute began in ...