Roman Catholic Bishop Of Providence, Hospital Operators Accused in Pension Lawsuit

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence and hospital operator Prospect Chartercare, LLC are among the defendants accused of conspiracy and fraud in two class-action lawsuits filed late Monday.

The suits filed in state and federal courts accuse Bishop Thomas Tobin and hospital operators of deliberately underfunding St. Joseph Health Services’s pension plan and then lying about the plan’s financial condition to beneficiaries and state regulators.

The plan -- which covers at least 2,700 current and former employees of Our Lady of Fatima Hospital and St. Joseph Health Services -- was left with no source of revenue when the Fatima hospital was sold in 2014 to Prospect Charter, the local arm of the California-based for profit Prospect Medical Holdings. The pension plan is currently in receivership, a form of bankrupty.

The Diocese, which founded the pension plan, denied any wrongdoing.

“The Diocese of Providence strongly disagrees with the allegations asserted against it in this very long and complex lawsuit,’’ the Diocese said in an email Tuesday. “As we have stated from the very beginning, we continue to be concerned about the well-being of all those affected by the pension situation, and we hope that this matter can be resolved quickly and justly. Nonetheless, the Diocese will respond appropriately to these claims and we are confident that our position will prevail.”

Read more: http://ripr.org/post/roman-catholic-bishop-providence-hospital-operators-accused-pension-lawsuit