PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia woman alleges she was wrongfully denied survivor benefits.
Cheryl Axelrod-Lichtman filed a complaint on Jan. 31 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against The Philadelphia Bakery Employers' and Food Driver Salesmen's Union Local No. 463, et al. citing the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff's late husband was a route driver for Amoroso Baking Co. and a member of the defendant union. The plaintiff states that in a letter she received a few months after her husband's death in 2005 stated she was entitled to survivor benefits for her lifetime effective September 2012.
The plaintiff alleges she applied to the defendant plan for survivor benefits on April 20, 2017. The suit states the plaintiff was later notified that she would receive benefits effective May 2017, 2012 as previously stated.
The plaintiff holds The Philadelphia Bakery Employers' and Food Driver Salesmen's Union Local No. 463, et al. responsible because the defendants allegedly wrongfully denied her the survivor benefits to which she alleges she is entitled.
The plaintiff seeks declaration that she is entitled to survivor benefits, interest, court costs and any further relief the court grants. She is represented by Kenneth D. Berman of Berman Legal LLC in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case number 2:18-cv-00402-ER