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Release Date: October 2, 2007
Release Number: 07-1464-ATL (271)
Contact Name: Dan Fuqua/Michael Wald
Phone Number: 404.562.2078/404.562.2076

U.S. Labor Department obtains consent judgment requiring former trustees to pay more than $25,000 into Nashville, Tennessee-based union trust fund

Atlanta – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment and order requiring former trustees of Labor Benefit Trust to restore $25,468 to the Nashville area union health plan and appointing an independent fiduciary to oversee the plan’s assets for its 549 participants.

“We are pleased with the outcome of this case, which restores funds to this plan for the benefit of its participants,” said Howard Marsh, director of the Atlanta Regional Office of the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).

The consent order, entered in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, resolves the department’s lawsuit alleging that the defendants violated their fiduciary responsibilities under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

Defendants Walter T. Dugger III, William C. Hilgerson, James Robert Neal and Jimmy Ray White are enjoined from acting as fiduciaries of any plan covered by ERISA for a period of seven years. Defendant Joe Bennett is barred for two years.

The Labor Benefit Trust was established by Local 327 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America as the Middle Tennessee Teamsters Trust Fund in 1992. The name of the plan was changed in 2001.

Employers and workers can reach EBSA’s Atlanta Regional Office at 404.302.3900 or toll-free at 1.866.444.EBSA (3272) for help with problems relating to private sector retirement and health plans. In fiscal year 2006, EBSA achieved monetary results of $1.4 billion related to pension, 401(k), health and other benefits for millions of American workers and their families.

Chao v. Labor Benefit Trust
Civil Action File Number 3:07-cv-00922

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