Date of Action: Nov. 1, 2023
Type of Action: Employee Retirement Income Security Act default judgment
Company/Owners: Claddagh Development Group LLC, operating as Claddagh Irish Pubs
Claddagh Development Group LLC Employee Savings Trust
Background: The Acting Secretary of Labor filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on June 15, 2023, to distribute the assets of the Claddagh Development Group LLC Employee Savings Trust, a 401(k) retirement plan.
The restaurant and bar chain filed for bankruptcy in 2006 and began failing to administer the 401(k) plan and its assets in 2007. At the close of the bankruptcy, the court did not terminate the plan or appoint new fiduciaries which prevented participants from withdrawing their funds.
Investigators with the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration discovered that as of March 18, 2022, the plan contained 65 participant accounts and $103,542 in assets, and that an independent fiduciary would need to begin the process of distributing assets to the participants.
Resolution: Entered on Nov. 1, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio the default judgment signed by Judge Daniel A. Polster appoints AMI Benefit Plan Administrators as the independent fiduciary to distribute the funds to eligible participants and terminate the plan.