Prominent Local Newspaper Calls On Our Jim Reeves For Legal Insight Into SRHS’s Pension Issues

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Our own Jim Reeves was interviewed by the Sun Herald Newspaper about Singing River Health System’s pension problems and employees’ legal options. We, like many folks along the Coast, have close family and friends who are being affected by this issue. With so much at stake, we’re working to defend the rights of many hurt by SRHS’s actions.

Quote from Sun Herald article:
“I don’t think it can be interpreted any other way but to lead them to believe that they in fact were getting the retirement benefits that they were promised,” Reeves said.

Scroll down to read excerpts from the story. Also, check out our recent blog posts regarding this retirement program.

 

Singing River Told Employees Pension Funded When It Wasn’t
By KAREN NELSON and ANITA LEE
Sun Herald November 19, 2014

PASCAGOULA — Singing River Health System sent statements in 2009, 2010 and 2011 to each employee showing how much the system paid
into their individual retirement, with colorful pie charts that showed millions invested overall in the pension plan.

SRHS employees are waiting to learn what they can expect in retirement pay now that the health system has conceded the plan is only 48 percent funded,
with a shortfall of roughly $150 million.

Biloxi attorney Jim Reeves sat in his conference room recently with one of the statements a client brought him.

“I don’t think it can be interpreted any other way but to lead them to believe that they in fact were getting the retirement benefits that they were
promised,” Reeves said. “This makes the situation doubly tragic because we have people who — if they were told this thing was in trouble in ’09 or ’10 when it got in trouble — could have made different arrangements. Many of them stayed at the hospital because of the good retirement plan. Those are years and potential investment monies that are gone and you can’t get back.”

The Sun Herald asked health system CEO Kevin Holland on Thursday to explain the statements that claim SRHS was contributing to retirement during those years. The written response came Monday:

“Prior to current administration, these reports were produced annually for our employees for the purpose of communicating information on our total benefits package at SRHS. No one on our current leadership team had any involvement in producing these statements; therefore, we cannot speculate on the information reported.”

Through a spokesman, Holland said he had no direct responsibility over the retirement fund until he stepped into the CEO’s job in early March, but Holland worked on the senior management team from 2009 through February as chief operating officer over both Ocean Springs and Singing River hospitals.

Anderson wrote and signed a letter that accompanied the annual statements to each employee. The 2009 and 2010 letters included the sentence, “It is also important to note that significant investments continue to be made in our retirement plan to ensure a well-funded and stable plan is maintained through challenging economic times.”

The full article can be found here: http://www.sunherald.com/2014/11/19/5924100/singing-river-told-employees-pension.html

Don’t be fooled… Class Action Suits are Powerful Tools for Recovery

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Matt and I have heard it all before… ‘Class action suits have huge legal fees’ or ‘Class action suits hurt large employers.’

Don’t be fooled… Class action suits are powerful tools for recovery due to physical injury or financial loss.

Here is how they work: class action lawsuits typically involve large groups of people affected by the same action or product. Individual claims, usually too small to pursue cost-effectively, are combined with other similar claims. This consolidation saves time and money on several aspects of litigation: attorneys, defendants, evidence, witnesses, and the court’s time.

The false and exaggerated claim of ‘class action attorneys taking huge legal fees’ can be a real hot button for me.

Don’t be fooled… In reality, if the lawsuit is successful (winning at trail or settlement) the court determines what attorney fees are awarded after reviewing detailed out-of-pocket costs and hearing from all plaintiffs in the class action. If the case is unsuccessful, the lawyer absorbs the loss, which can be huge amounts of money.

The other fabricated claim that ‘class actions hurt employers’ might be the most disheartening.

Don’t be fooled… We’ve witnessed unethical businesses, which have hurt or defrauded people, attacking the very legal tools which will hold them accountable. Through class actions, their frauds and wrongdoings are identified and stopped.

Here are THREE huge advantages of class action suits:

  1. They allow a large group of injured parties to receive just compensation, even if their individual claims are relatively small.
  2. Another advantage of class actions, over individual lawsuits, is that individual suits operate on a first-come, first-served basis. Whereas class actions ensure recovered payments are spread equally across all injured parties.
  3. Class actions also ensure plaintiffs are represented by an experienced, highly competent attorney, someone they might not have been able to afford on their own.

In the interest of fairness, one significant disadvantage of a class action is… if the plaintiffs lose the lawsuit, they’re typically prohibited from filing individual suits later. This is why it’s important to “opt out” of a class action if you feel that your damages are substantially higher than the rest of the class.

Jim Reeves is a practicing local attorney with an office in east Biloxi and co-host of a popular local TV show on WLOX called LawCall airing Saturday nights.

Jim Reeves offers tips to Health System employees seeking legal options to fight retirement changes

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Singing River Health System employees and retirees are actively seeking legal options to fight and stop changes to the retirement program. Our office started receiving calls from deeply concerned Health System employees last week and the calls just keep coming.

Most feel completely betrayed or marginalized by Health System management. They have invested for years into a legitimate retirement plan only to learn the Health System is now backing out to pay other debt.

I’m in the process of reviewing retirement records of SRHS employees who are scared about their financial future. It’s very early in the process, but from what I’ve seen so far, these employees have every right to be concerned and upset.

Here are several tips for SRHS employees and retirees who are considering legal options:
• Review, know and make copies of all your personal retirement documents
• Take detailed notes during all employee updates from management
• Keep all correspondence from management
• Seek local attorneys with “Class Action” experience

Unfortunately, this seems to already have many hallmarks of a ‘Class Action’ lawsuit. Meaning Health System employees will need an attorney.

Remember, there is no fee for an initial consultation at reputable law firms. Also, experienced attorneys will work on a contingency fee basis, which means the lawyer gets paid only if there is a monetary recovery of funds.

Based on previous Class Action experience, I expect management will begin publically blaming employees for expecting the benefits they’ve paid for and been promised.

Jim Reeves is a practicing local attorney with an office in east Biloxi and co-host of a popular local TV show called LawCall on Saturday nights.