City Pension Reform Law Update: Judge Denies City's Motion to Stay Pending Appeal

CITY PENSION REFORM LAW UPDATE

Judge Rita Novak denied the City of Chicago's Motion to Stay Pending Appeal.  The City sought a stay of the Order issued on Friday, July 24, 2015.

Read the Court's Order 

City Pension Reform

A BIG VICTORY:  Order declaring PA 98-641 Unconstitutional

On Friday, July 24, 2015, Circuit Court Judge Rita Novak issued an Order declaring that the City Pension Reform law, Public Act 98-641, unconstitutionally reduces benefits protected by Illinois Constitution Article XIII, Section 5.  Judge Novak granted our motion for summary judgment and has ordered the City to pay the benefit increases that the City has been sitting on, while the litigation was pending.

We are pleased that the Court agreed with us on all of our arguments (that P.A. 98-641, by its terms and on its face, reduces benefits in violation of the Constitution's Pension Protection Clause), and rejected the City's "Net Benefit" and "negotiated agreement' arguments (which we termed the "Chicken Little" and "No Actual Contract", agreed to by no one with authority to bind retirees).

But this is not the end of the battle, by any measure.  The City will certainly appeal this ruling directly to the Illinois Supreme Court for a definitive ruling.

Read the Court's Order

 

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