Judge approves BJ healthcare lawsuits settlement

U.S. Federal District Court Judge David Dowd on Friday approved a settlement between the Akron Beacon Journal and Guild and Composing retirees over retirement-day healthcare benefits that the BJ changed later that could cost the newspaper millions of dollars.

 

Judge Dowd also approved turning over a check for $772,500 from the BJ’s liability insurance company  to the attorneys for Dave and Gina White, et al and John Olesky, et al to cover the plaintiffs’ expenses for the suits, which were filed in 2009 and 2010.

 

All that’s left is for BJ Settlement Administrator Roger Wettmore to handle the reimbursement claims for extra medical and prescription expenses caused by the Beacon’s shifts in coverage and Jan. 1 implementation of the restored coverage.

 

The $100,000 set aside for this purpose is expected to cover the payments, minus the $16,511 reimbursed for retired printers named in their lawsuit after a 2009 injunction by Judge Dowd. If not, the reimbursements would be pro-rated.

On Jan. 1, 2013 the printers and Guild retirees included in the settlement will revert to their $2 (Guild) and $5 (printers) co-pays for prescriptions and will be covered medically under Plan N, which should give the printers and Guild retirees coverage equal to or better than their retirement-day coverage. This will save some retirees thousands of dollars a year compared to the current BJ coverage under Aetna. 

 

Eligible retirees will be enrolled with United Healthcare for AARP Medicare Supplement Plan N and Medical Mutual of Ohio for the $2 and $5 prescription co-pays. The Beacon Journal will pay all the premiums.

Based on 2012 information, retirees will pay at least a $140 annual deductible for medical care although that could change upward in 2013.  

 

Dave and Gina White started this process by putting up $2,500 of their money. When John Olesky filed his lawsuit in 2010, that made Guild retirees also eligible for the settlement.

 

In addition to the Whites, the named plaintiffs are retired printers Hugh and Sharon Downing, Ruth and Tom West, Bob Abbott, Bob Walker, Larnie and Stephanie Greene, Ora and Shirley Thombs, Ray and Amy Wolfe and Norm and Naomi Mattern.

 

The process began in 2005 when Dave White and Siesta Key, Florida Island House Condominium owner Lou Smith, who had become friends, discussed the BJ reneging on healthcare coverage.

Smith referred White to Allen G. Anderson of his Smith & Johnson law firm in Traverse City, Michigan. Anderson got Chandra Law Firm of Cleveland involved because the plaintiffs needed Ohio representation.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs are the Chandra Law Firm under Subodh Chandra with lawsuit point-man Don Screen, and Anderson and Kenneth M. Petterson of Smith & Johnson in Traverse City. Screen, Anderson and Petterson were in Judge Dowd’s court Friday, with retired printer Ruth West and husband Tom West and John Olesky witnessing the historic settlement.

 

The Beacon had three attorneys, including Brett Bacon and Colleen C. Murnane, outside counsel from the Cleveland law firm of Frantz Ward, and Beacon Journal Settlement Administrator Roger Wettmore, who has been at the BJ for 32 years, at its table.

 

In early 2007, shortly after Canadian media mogul David Black's company acquired the Beacon Journal, the newspaper switched health-insurance plans and drastically reduced these retirees' benefits even more. 

 

The resentment built into the lawsuit filed in 2009. Later that year, Judge Dowd filed a temporary injunction requiring the BJ to restore $5 prescription benefits to retired printers named in the lawsuit.

 

Guild retirees eligible for the settlement, which depended on the wording in retirement letters, are Olesky, of Tallmadge; Dick McBane, Lilburn, Georgia; Harold and Elizabeth Bailey, Kent; and Don Roese, Cuyahoga Falls.

 

Retireed printers and spouses eligible are the Whites, of Venice, Florida; Sid Sprague, Loveland, Colorado; Hugh and Sharon Downing, The Villages, Florida; Isabel Watson, Naples, Florida; Janice Hogg, Waynesville, North Carolina;  Bob and Linda Abbott, Massillon; Russ and Martel Bendel, Wadsworth; Lloyd and Claudine Bigelow, Cuyahoga Falls; Joe Catalano, Akron; Eunice and Bonnie Collins, Copley; John Costello, Akron; Richard and Patricia Fair, Akron; Larnie and Stephanie Greene, Hartville; Dick Gresock, Medina; Marjorie Hanna, Wadsworth; Ed Hanzel, Barberton; Henry and Kathleen Heinbuck, North Canton; Bob Kendall, Berlin Center; Harriet Ledbetter, Canton; Norm and Naomi Mattern, Wellsville; Charles O’Neill, Akron; Denzil Parker, Wadsworth; Fred Pollack, Akron; Francis and Rita Reeves, Akron; Don Reppart, North Canton; Ron Sanderlin, Canton; Cecil and Josephine Santaferro, Akron; Charles Stadelman, Tallmadge; Bob Walker, Medina; Ray and Amaryllis Wolfe, Greentown, and Ruth and Tom West, Rittman.anHanH