R.I. moves to add municipalities, others as defendants in pension lawsuit May 30, 2014 11:15 PM Comments 0 0 3 +10 0 0 2 By Tom Mooney Journal Staff Writer tmooney@providencejournal Related Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter WARWICK, R.I. — The number of lawyers engaged in the lawsuit challenging the state’s 2011 pension overhaul is poised to swell. The state has asked that virtually every Rhode Island municipality, school department, water authority, housing authority and even library board, with workers who pay into the state retirement system or have collective bargaining agreements with workers, be added as defendants in the lawsuit. In motions filed Thursday, lawyers for the state argue that whether the half-dozen unions and retirement groups suing the state are successful in getting their reduced benefits restored, repercussions will affect virtually every community and scores of other entities with public sector workers. Therefore their interests must be represented as the lawsuit proceeds. For instance, the lawyers contend, if the unions succeed in showing that benefits cuts were illegal and unnecessary, the impact could be so great on some communities “that it could result in some of the municipal entities filing for bankruptcy.” And if the state succeeds in showing the cuts were constitutional and/or a necessary contractual impairment for a greater public purpose, that decision would affect how collective-bargaining agreements are interpreted. “Consequently the municipal entities are indispensable parties and without their [participation], any declaration made in this litigation would be null and void,” the state argues. Nineteen lawyers, not counting Administration Director Richard Licht, met Friday behind closed doors at Kent County Superior Court to discuss the state’s motions with Judge Sarah Taft-Carter. After the hour-long meeting, Taft-Carter vacated the Sept. 15 date she had set earlier for the trial to begin, saying she would need time to hear arguments on the state’s latest motions, which also includes a request for a jury trial. She suggested a July 1 date to hear the motion concerning whether the additional defendants should be added, and Aug. 5 to discuss the motion for a jury trial. Plaintiff lawyer Lynette Labinger, representing Rhode Island Council 94, the state’s largest public employees union, said she had no immediate reaction to the motions. “We just got them and are evaluating them,” she said. Daniel Beardsley, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, was in the courtroom Friday morning, hoping to learn more about the logistics of representing potentially scores of new defendants in the lawsuit. Beardsley said there are more than 130 municipal entities that have members in the state’s Municipal Employees Retirement System. “The big question is, how are these cities and [towns] and other entities going to defend themselves?” he said. Beardsley said he was not sure whether adding the defendants to the suit would be good or bad for his members. And he questioned how long that could delay a trial. He said that when he asked attorneys whether the league could represent the cities and towns, some said yes, some said no. Lawyers representing state interests declined to comment about the latest development as they were leaving the courtroom, saying that as far as they knew, they were still prevented from talking about the case by a gag order imposed by Taft-Carter. Earlier this month Taft-Carter rejected a request by both sides to postpone the trial until February, citing the complexity of the case. The trial is considered an early round to the ultimate question of whether the state can constitutionally cut retirement benefits. Whatever side loses is expected to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
Posted on: Sat, 31 May 2014 11:08:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015