Chalk another one up for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).It's won another judgment, this time on behalf of participants inthe Alliance Home Healthcare Inc. Profit Sharing Plan.

Back in August, DOL filed suit after an Employee BenefitsSecurity Administration investigation in Chicago found that PalosHills, Ill.-based Alliance Home Healthcare Inc.; Dalisay Sulit, itspresident; and Reginaldo Sulit, its secretary/treasurer improperlytransferred and distributed more than $1.6 million from the profitsharing plan to themselves, the company, and others.

The lawsuit alleged that those plan withdrawals were not in thebest interests of the plan's participants and beneficiaries, andthe federal judge agreed, ordering the home healthcare provider andthe trustees to repay a total of $1,736,339 to the plan.

That includes not only the $1,601,908 in withdrawn plan assetsthat were used for non-plan purposes, including directly benefitingthe company, but also lost opportunity costs of $134,431.

The judge also removed the defendants from their positions asfiduciaries to the plan and permanently enjoined them from servingas fiduciaries or service providers to any plan covered byERISA.

The court appointed Lefoldt & Co. P.A. of Ridgeland,Mississippi, as an independent fiduciary, compensated at thedefendants' expense, to distribute the plan's assets toparticipants and beneficiaries and to terminate the plan.

Alliance Home Healthcare established the plan on January 1,2000, to provide retirement benefits to eligible employees.

As of December 31, 2006—the last year an annual report wasfiled—the plan had 127 participants and $1.6 million in assets.Alliance Home Healthcare provided healthcare services to patientsin their homes.