A retired teacher mistakenly received pension benefits for two years after he died — and his husband pocketed over $120,000 of the money, according to a new lawsuit.
Philip Hanan, 76, died in June 2014 but the Teachers’ Retirement Fund of the City of New York wasn’t notified of his death and continued direct deposit payments to his bank account for two years totaling $123,560, according to court documents.
In that time, Hanan’s spouse, David Dubner of Woodside, Queens, wrote checks to himself in Hanan’s name from the account, a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court alleges.
He did not report Hanan’s death so he could continue collecting the payments, the suit charges.
Hanan retired from the city Department of Education in 1989 and continued receiving pension benefits of up to $59,550 each year as recently as 2015, according to city records.
Dubner should not be allowed to keep the overpaid funds that “rightfully” belongs to TRS, the suit argues.
The TRS is now suing Dubner, 70, to repay the funds and accusing him of fraud after previously trying to sue him in cases that were closed.
When reached by phone, Dubner referred questions to his lawyer, who did not respond to an inquiry.
