Piedmont, University Health Face Narrowed Retiree Benefit Suit

Former employees of University Health Services Inc. advanced part of their lawsuit saying they were wrongly denied promised retiree health insurance coverage after Piedmont Healthcare Inc. took over their company in 2022.

The plaintiffs, 215 former University Health employees, plausibly alleged that they were promised certain company-paid lifetime health benefits that were potentially jeopardized after Piedmont’s takeover, Judge J. Randal Hall said in a Thursday opinion. That’s true even though they didn’t produce documents explicitly providing that these benefits will continue “for life,” Hall said, allowing them to press claims for denied benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security ...