Bankruptcy court declares $27k in debts owed to Rose Printing Services employee benefit plans non-dischargeable

Date of Action: May 23, 2016

Type of Action:  Default Judgment

Name of Defendant: William Robin Rose is the fiduciary to the Rose Printing Services Inc. Employees 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan, Rose Printing Services Inc. Employees Health Plan and Rose Printing Services Inc. Employees Dental Plan.

Allegations: Rose in his capacity as a plan fiduciary, failed to remit participant contributions to the 401(k) plan, health plan and dental plan and allowed these funds to remain part of the company’s general assets and thereby used them to pay for business expenses.  The company operated in Southfield and Fowlerville, Michigan.

Additionally, the fiduciaries failed to remit premiums, which included participant contributions, to both the health and dental plans resulting in the cancellation of both the participants’ health and dental insurance. The fiduciaries also failed to timely remit participant contributions to the 401(k) Plan and to maintain a fidelity bond for the 401(k) Plan. 

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefit Security Administration’s Cincinnati office determined Rose owes a total of $27,709.81, including lost opportunity costs, to the three plans.

Background:

• On March 12, 2015, Rose filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, which was converted to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case on Oct. 1, 2015.  
• On July 20, 2015, the Secretary of Labor filed an adversary complaint in the bankruptcy case to have the debts owed to the plans declared non-dischargeable.  Rose failed to respond to the Secretary’s discovery requests. 
• ­On March 23, 2016, the Secretary filed a motion to compel Rose to answer the discovery requests. 
• On April 7, 2016, the Court granted the motion to compel discovery, but Rose failed to comply with the court’s order.

Resolution: On May 23, 2016, the Court granted the Secretary’s motion for default judgment against Rose.  The amounts owed were previously determined by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Thomas E. Perez v. William Robin Rose et al., Case No. 2:14-cv-14495.

Rose and the company were removed from any positions held as fiduciaries and permanently enjoined from serving as fiduciaries or service providers to any ERISA-covered employee benefit plan in the future.

The court appointed an independent fiduciary who terminated the 401(k) Plan, distribute its assets to the participants and beneficiaries in March 2016, and concluded any 401(k) Plan-related matters.

Court: United States Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Michigan, Flint.

Docket Number: 15-03109-dof