Mother’s Estate Owed $1.8 Million for Daughter’s Pension Breach

The deceased co-founder of a defunct manufacturing company was wrongly denied nearly $1.8 million in pension benefits, the Second Circuit ruled Tuesday in a case pitting a daughter against her mother’s estate.

The dispute centers on the pension plan for Pilot Products Inc., which was founded by Herbert and Marcia Hebel and run by one of their daughters after Herbert Hebel’s death. A federal judge ruled in 2024 that the daughter, Carolyn Hebel, violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by failing to inform her now-deceased mother that she’d get more money if she opted to receive Herbert’s pension benefits ...