Judge Taft-Carter Dismisses Pension Lawsuits, But Fight To Continue
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Judge Sarah Taft- Cart, the Rhode Island Superior Court Judge who has been at the center of the pension lawsuits for almost 4 years, dismissed the remaining lawsuits on the grounds of "mootness". The decision came on Wednesday, when the Taft-Carter was expected to layout a process for the suit to continue.
"As of yesterday, it's over," said former Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice Frank Williams, who spearheaded the successful effort to settle the suit between the vast majority of the other litigants and the state earlier this Spring. "But like anything else in our democratic society, it remains to be seen whether this is truly the end," Williams said.
According to Paul Valletta, the President of the Cranston Firefighters Union, the fight is far from over.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"We are going forward," said Valletta.
Valletta said that the ruling was basically a technicality because the litigants were suing over the legislation that was enacted in 2011 that altered the pension system for thousands of Rhode Island retirees and city and state workers. Because the state changed that law this year, and so many other unions signed off the changes and dropped their lawsuits the unions still contesting the new law need to refile their lawsuits.
Where the new lawsuit will be filed, however, remains to be seen, said Valletta.
"We aren't sure yet whether we will file the new lawsuit in state court or in federal court. That's something we need to sit down with our attorneys and decide upon," he said.
Valletta said he and the Cranston chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers have the same attorney and that the police officers plan to refile their court challenge as well. (The IBPO was unable to be reached in time for comment on the issue.)
The ruling marks the latest turn of a nearly 4-year process of challenges to the state's pension reform of 2011, which shaved roughly $4 billion off of the state's pension fund liability by raising retirement ages and moving employees into a hybrid pension/401k system.
Quickly after the legislation was passed by the General Assembly in 2011, the unions and retirees affected by the change sued in state court, arguing that the state had no right to alter what had already been promised to them, and said that it amounted to a de facto contract. Later that year, Judge Taft-Carter gave the unions a marginal victory by ruling that there was an "implied contract" between the two sides due to the legislation that was passed over the years.
The two sides reached a settlement in 2014, but it fell apart after some of the unions rejected the deal. Earlier this year, Williams was appointed a "Special Master" in the case, and quickly achieved another settlement between the two sides, which this time stuck.
Williams said that going forward, if the retirement benefits are to be altered, it needs to be done legislatively.
"My view, as a citizen, as a judge, and as a mediator, is that, and I hope there are, a return to some of the benefits for yesteryear for retirees, they must be done legislatively," said Williams.
Related Slideshow: See How Much Providence Pays in Pension Fund Fees
Per investment information obtained by GoLocal, the following are the management fees paid by the City of Providence Employees Retirment System (as of April 2013 -- Graham Global funds were moved at the last city Investment commission meeting).
Related Articles
- See the 11 RI Retirees Who Had Pensions Suspended
- INVESTIGATION: 11 RI Retirees Have Pensions Suspended for Breaking Work Rule
- Will the SEC Investigate Providence’s Pension Plan?
- Riley: Leaders Silent on “Enron-esque” Providence Pension Debacle
- City Council, Unions Not Worried About $62 Million Gone From Providence Pension Fund
- Top 20 Highest Paid Early Retirees in RI Pension System
- 200 in RI State Pension System Retired at 45 or Younger
- Both Taveras and Raimondo Claimed They Fixed Pension Underfunding - Not True
- Students With Disabilities Made up 32.90% of Suspensions in RI Schools
- Firms Paid Millions to Manage RI Pension Money They Didn’t Have
- 38 Firms That Made the Most in Upfront Fees from RI Pension Fund
- Providence Pension Watchdog Riley Releases Report, Calls for More Answers
- NEW: Forbes’ Siedle Releases Latest Investigation into RI Pension System
- Moore: Elorza Must Pursue Pension Reform
- The Highest Paid Investment Firms in RI Pension System
- INVESTIGATION: Investment Firms Not Sharing Vendor Discounts with RI Pension Fund
- Moore: Ask Not Who the Toll is For; It’s For You
- Moore: Is Platoon Reduction a Ploy to Elminate Firefighters?
- Moore: Will Magaziner Protect Rhode Island or Wall St.?
- Moore: Elorza Shows Bravery by Taking on Firefighters
- Moore: Mattiello Must Leave Pawsox Fate Up To Voters
- Moore: Elorza Should Prioritize Students, Not Trolleys
- Moore: Can New Ed Commissioner Wagner Handle RI?
- Moore: Nellie Gorbea’s Insensitivity
- Moore: RI Republicans Forfeit Credibility
- Moore: Legislature Recesses! Is Worst Yet To Come?
- Moore: Forget GE, RI Can’t Even Retain Teespring
- Moore: Mello Takes Over a Fire Department In Turmoil
- Riley: Pension Settlement Does Little to Help Rhode Island
- Riley: Repeating My Call for Providence Bankruptcy
- Riley: How to Start Fixing the Rhode Island State Pension Fund
- Riley: Does the RI Treasurer Know his Senior Policy Adviser?
- Riley: RI Has $600 Million Shortfall for Fiscal Year 2015
- Riley: Why Aren’t Rhode Island Pension Plans Working?
- Riley: How Does Providence Arrive at 8.25% Discount Rate for Pensions?
- Riley: Institutional Investor Gives Bad Grades to RI’s Hedge Fund Picks
- Riley: Providence Pension Fund is Risky Business
- Riley: Providence Pension Scam is Unraveling
- Riley: Providence Pension Scam Revealed in Print
- Riley: A Corrupt Providence Approaches Default
- Riley: Comparing Providence to Greece
- Riley: Providence Rhode Island Defaulted June 30, 2015…So What
- Riley: California Municipal Bondholder Law Follows Rhode Island
- Riley: Default in Providence. Where is our Governor?
- Riley: Countdown to Default in Providence
- Riley: I’ll Gladly Pay You Tuesday for a Hamburger Today
- Fire Fighters Sue Providence After GoLocal’s Riley Unveils Missing $60 Million
- Riley: Raimondo and Mattiello Fiddle While Providence Implodes
- Riley: Progressive Magaziner and the Discount Rate
- Riley: Negative Return on Fiscal Year 2015
- Riley: Simple Questions in Need of an Answer by Providence Officials
