Legal
UPDATE
MOU PENSION BENEFITS LAWSUIT — THE APPEAL
BY ERIC R . WILSON , ATTORNEY AT LAW , NAPIER , BAILLIE , WILSON , BACON & TALLONE , P . C .
Since July of 2014 , PLEA has been in the litigation trenches with aims of securing many of your pensionable benefits that were unilaterality stripped away from officers with the City Council ’ s imposition of the 2014 – 2016 Terms and Conditions of Employment ( TCE ). As you will recall , the TCE eliminated certain provisions from your MOU that previously allowed eligible officers to receive additional compensation instead of accruing additional sick or vacation leave or receiving their annual uniform allowance . The additional compensation was structured in a way that allowed it to be included in the officers ’ “ high three ” pension calculations .
FOLLOWING IMPOSITION OF THE TCE IN JULY 2014 , PLEA FILED A LAWSUIT ON
BEHALF OF ALL RANK-AND- FILE OFFICERS ALLEGING CLAIMS FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT AND VIOLATIONS OF THE PENSION AND CONTRACTS CLAUSES OF THE ARIZONA CONSTITUTION .
Over the last ten years , our office has fought several legal battles related to this lawsuit — in the superior court , court of appeals , and the supreme court . At each stage , we prevailed . When we last updated the membership , the newly assigned superior court judge granted the City ’ s Motion for Summary Judgment . The City ’ s motion was a regurgitation of the same arguments contained in several prior motions it had unsuccessfully filed in 2017 , and in 2019 , and again in 2020 . PLEA will challenge the superior court ’ s ruling that the benefits conferred in the 2012 – 2014 MOU terminated in July 2014 . We are perplexed as to how that conclusion was reached when those very benefits lasted , at a minimum , for three consecutive years .
In November 2023 , PLEA filed its opening brief appealing the superior court ’ s ruling to the Arizona Court of Appeals . We anticipate that oral arguments will be scheduled next and that the appeal will be decided by the end of the year . More information will be shared at the next stage as appropriate .
If you have any questions about this article or general legal issues in law enforcement practices , please visit napierlawfirm . com or contact me at ewilson @ napierlawfirm . com .
20 • AZPLEA . COM