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Case Summaries

ERISA

[12/06] Skillin v. Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego
Affirming the grant of summary judgment to the defendant hospital in a suit brought by a former employee who complained of unauthorized retirement account contributions in a Private Attorneys General Act lawsuit for alleged violations of the California Labor Code because the claims were preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

[11/29] Morrison v. Department of the Navy
Dismissing a man’s petition for review of the decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board relating to his retirement from a civilian position within the Department of the Navy because the Board’s ruling was not a final order or final decision and, as such, the petition lacked jurisdiction.

[11/24] Sikora v. UPMC
Affirming the district court’s holding that a man who sought to recover benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act could not obtain relief because he sought benefits under a ‘top-hat plan,’ a kind of deferred compensation that is unfunded and maintained by an employer for key management or highly compensated employees, because such funds need not comply with many of the substantive provisions of ERISA and the defendant need not prove that plan participants had bargaining power in order to establish that the benefits were part of a top-hat plan.

[11/21] Justiniano v. Social Security Administration
Affirming the dismissal of the appeal of a suit relating to the Social Security Administration’s denial of benefits to men whose doctor was under investigation for fraud who submitted documents that appeared fraudulent because the federal suit was filed prior to the exhaustion of administrative remedies.

 

Workers’ Comp

[10/24] Gholipour v. The Superior Court of San Diego County
Denying the petition for writ of mandate challenging an order by the trial court relating to the amount of petitioner’s restitution because although the case was transferred to the superior court of another county while her appeal from a workers’ compensation fraud conviction was pending, the trial court retained jurisdiction over restitution.

[10/13] American Cargo Express, Inc. v. Superior Court
In a workers’ compensation action, arising after the California Self-Insurers’ Security Fund (SISF) assumed the workers’ compensation obligations of Mainstay Business Solutions and sued it and its clients to recover costs and liabilities, the trial court’s grant of SISF’s motion on the pleadings is affirmed where Labor Code section 3744, subdivision (c) authorizes SISF to bring such an action in superior court.

[10/06] Ford v. Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board
In a workers’ compensation action, the petition for review of an award of benefits is denied where the worker suffered a compensable injury entitling him to benefits, independent of his committing three criminal workers’ fraud offenses.

[09/15] Ly v. County of Fresno
In a labor & employment action, brought by three Laotian correctional officers alleging racial discrimination in employment actions and retaliation after complaining about them, the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to defendant county is affirmed where the denial of plaintiffs’ separate workers’ compensation claims bar their claims in this action on res judicata grounds.

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