Opinion ID: 807920
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Forfeiture generally

Text: A “forfeiture” is the “divestiture of property without compensation.” Black’s Law Dictionary (9th ed. 2009). In the benefits context, we generally think of a benefit as “forfeited” where it disappears, to the employer’s or promisor’s gain, usually because of some prohibited action on the part of the employee/promisee. See, e.g., 38 U.S.C. § 6103(a) (providing that a person who commits fraud in connection with a claim to veteran’s benefits “shall forfeit all rights, claims, and benefits under all laws administered by the Secretary”); id. § 6104(a) (same for a person who commits treason); Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm’n of Fla., 480 U.S. 136, 144 (1987) (describing loss of right to state unemployment benefits because of for-cause termination as a “forfeiture of unemployment benefits”); Estate of Cowart v. Nicklos Drilling Co., 505 U.S. 469, 481 (1992) (describing loss of right to compensation and medical benefits under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act for failure to comply with statutory provisions regarding third-party settlements as a “forfeiture of future benefits”); cf. Thompson v. Clifford, 408 F.2d 154, 169 & n.10 (D.C. Cir. 1968) (denoting federal 11 statutes that use the “deprivation of civil privileges as a method for regulating conduct” as “forfeiture” statutes). The situation presented here is nothing like a conventional forfeiture. Unlike, for example, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs stripping a servicemember convicted of treason of his veteran’s benefits, the Plan did not refuse to pay benefits to Foster because he had engaged in some form of prohibited action. Rather, the Plan paid Foster’s benefits as contemplated under the Plan terms. Here, the Plan simply determined that it should not pay Foster’s benefits twice because of Foster’s failure to comply with his obligations to ensure that the initial payment was not made to an imposter. Foster’s discontent with the form, manner, and recipient of the initial benefits payment might implicate the specific terms of his contract with PPG and the Plan, but it does not implicate the concept of forfeiture, as we discuss below.