Wednesday, July 03, 2024

Musquiz v. U.S. R.R. Retirement Bd. (9th Cir. - July 3, 2024)

Here's a very non-legal -- but perhaps fairly accurate -- summary of this opinion:

"Domingo Musquiz worked on the railroad for nearly 28 years. He left that job when he was 55 years old and, four years later, briefly worked for a hospital before being let go around two years later. He needed money -- he was in his 60s -- so he asked the Railroad Board to start his pension, and it did. The Board eventually discovered that Mr. Musquiz was later rehired by the hospital (because it has access to Social Security statements), but in the meantime, the interim pension benefits paid to Mr. Musquiz were slightly higher than they should have been. So the Board sued to recover the overpayment.

Mr. Musquiz is now 73 years old. He's on a fixed income, struggles to even make his monthly mortgage payments, has numerous health problems, and can't even afford a haircut (!). Leave the guy alone. If the Board wants to recover a tiny portion of the overpayment, go ahead. But otherwise, does it really make sense to hound the guy? Doesn't seem so to us.

Have a good Fourth of July, Mr. Musquiz. Thank you for your service."