The Court has finally acted on the motion for reasonable attorney’s fees in the matter of Swisher v. City of Moses Lake. The Judge has advised Joe Fischnaller that he has granted the motion and awarded $6,425.00 in attorney’s fees against the City of Moses Lake.

See the full story with an update as of 2/5/2010

LEOFF I EMPLOYERS PUT ON NOTICE THAT FAILURE TO PAY BOARD APPROVED HEALTHCARE EXPENSES WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

The trial of Swisher v City of Moses Lake has been completed. The judge ordered Moses Lake to pay all bills approved by the Disability Board and awarded attorneys fees and costs to the plaintiff. Additionally, the court issued an injunction effective at the end of the thirty day appeal period. The injunction orders them to pay all future necessary medical expenses approved by the Disability Board. While always possible, an appeal is not expected.

The case did clarify that Disability Boards should classify approved medical bills as “medically necessary”. Since the board had not included that notation in their records, some trial time was spent establishing that that was the board’s intent.

Kudos to Joe Fischnaller for another job well done.

In fairness, the Coalition did fund this lawsuit.  It was the right thing to do and I supported that action when I was on the board.

As of November 23, 2009, Joe Fischnaller reports that the only thing outstanding on this is his motion for the award of attorney's fees.  While statuatory fees were awarded, Joe is attempting to recover the actual costs.  A hearing on this issue is pending. 

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed estates are eligible recipients of Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Act (PSOBA) death benefits.

An interesting case came before the Supreme Court of Washington recently requiring it to determine whether retirement health care and welfare benefits provided in a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) vested for life employees who reach retirement eligibility during the term of the agreement.

Appellants were nine current or retired employees of the Port of Seattle, who were eligible to receive retirement welfare benefits pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement between the Port and their union. After the CBA expired, the Port ceased contributing to the welfare fund, which administered the welfare benefits provided to eligible employees and retirees.

Joe Fischnaller has three actions currently going. He has filed a lawsuit against the City of Moses Lake and the Port of Moses Lake for refusing to pay for benefits provided to LEOFF1 members by the Grant Co. Disability Board.

WASHINGTON, DC, October 9, 2008: A lawsuit filed today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charges the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with adopting policies that deny otherwise eligible retirees their rightful Social Security benefits if those retirees choose not to enroll in Medicare. The plaintiffs have asked the Courts to temporarily and permanently prohibit SSA and HHS from enforcing the policies,which were improperly adopted, the plaintiffs say, without required public notice and hearings.

"This is like deja vu all over again." 
On July 7, 2008 a lawsuit was filed in Grant County dealing with the refusal of the City of Moses Lake to pay medical benefits as approved by the Grant County Disability Board.

The appeal discussed in Joe Fischnaller is provided in this article.

Joe Fischnaller discusses the Snohomish County medical benefits case in this letter written in July of 2005.  It is a good review of the case and demonstrates the rights and protections enjoyed by LEOFF 1 member where medical benefits are concerned.  It is also a good lesson for all of us to be very concerned about the membership of your local disability board.  It is important that you be very well represented on you local disability board.