Benefits & ERISA Law

Update on a Walmart Case and New Online Website for Calculating Annuities

By Suzanne Wynn

CNN is reporting that Wal-Mart has decided to not pursue reimbursement for medical expenses paid by the Walmart Stores, Inc. Associates Health and Welfare Plan for Deborah Shank. I previously blogged about this case here. (hat tip to Paul Secunda of the Workplace Prof blog).

Deborah Shank was the former Walmart employee who suffered severe brain damage as the result of an automobile accident, and recovered damages from the trucking company found responsible for the accident. The Administrative Committee of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. then sought recovery from Deborah Shank for the amount of medical expenses paid by the plan on her behalf. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the plan, meaning Walmart was given the legal right to recover from Deborah Shank under the terms of the plan, and the 8th Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision. Roy F. Harmon III of the Health Plan Law blog reported that a petition for certiorari had been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, and in March the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case, leaving Deborah Shank with no legal recourse to stop Walmart from recovery.

CNN is also reporting as part of this story that Walmart is amending their plan to allow more discretion in individual cases. If anyone has a copy of the amendment and could send it my way, I would really appreciate it. Under ERISA, I am curious about how much discretion they could be amending into their plan.

On a totally unrelated subject, A law student, Andrew Strelka, has launched a website containing an online calculator for “basic annuities” and “lump sum annuities”. The website has the unfortunate name of Tax Rock Star. I haven’t had a chance to test the accuracy of the calculations yet. (hat tip to Prof. Paul Caron of the TaxProf Blog)

Technorati Tags: Pension Protection Act, PPA, Walmart, Shank, Tax Rock Star, Andrew Strelka, Paul Secunda, Paul Caron, ERISA

Full post as published by Pension Protection Act Blog on April 03, 2008 (boomark / email).