Transocean Unit Gets Partial Win Over Worker Benefits Paid Twice

A Transocean Drilling Inc. committee can claw back some of the $137,902 it paid to a deceased worker’s estate after a Texas federal court ruled the benefits were paid in error because the worker never removed her ex-husband as her beneficiary.

Emma Charlene Taylor’s benefits under an employer-sponsored plan belong to her ex-husband after her death, because he was the sole beneficiary named in plan records, the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled Tuesday. While there “may be a basis to doubt” that she intended to retain her ex-husband as her beneficiary more than a decade ...