Cherry v. Mayor

• Decision Date: 06 August 2014
• Docket Number: Nos. 13–1007,13–1116.,13–1115,s. 13–1007
• Citation: 762 F.3d 366
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit
• Parties: Robert F. CHERRY, Jr.; Robert J. Sledgeski; John Lewandowski; Charles Williams, Individually and on behalf of all persons similarly situated; Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge # 3, Inc.; Baltimore City Firefighters' IAFF, Local 734, on behalf of their members, Plaintiffs–Appellees, Baltimore Fire Officers Union, Local 964, International Association of Firefighters, Intervenor/Plaintiff–Appellee, v. MAYOR and CITY COUNCIL of BALTIMORE CITY, a municipal corporation, Defendant–Appellant, and Board of Trustees of the Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, a body politic and corporate; Edward J. Gallagher, in his capacity as Director, Department of Finance; Thomas P. Taneyhill, in his capacity as Executive Director, Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, Defendants. Robert F. Cherry, Jr.; Robert J. Sledgeski; John Lewandowski; Charles Williams, Individually and on behalf of all persons similarly situated; Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge # 3, Inc.; Baltimore City Firefighters' IAFF, Local 734, on behalf of their members, Plaintiffs, and Baltimore Fire Officers Union, Local 964, International Association of Firefighters, Intervenor/Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City, a municipal corporation, Defendant–Appellee, and Board of Trustees of the Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, a body politic and corporate; Edward J. Gallagher, in his capacity as Director, Department of Finance; Thomas P. Taneyhill, in his capacity as Executive Director, Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, Defendants. Robert F. Cherry, Jr.; Robert J. Sledgeski; John Lewandowski; Charles Williams, Individually and on behalf of all persons similarly situated; Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge # 3, Inc.; Baltimore City Firefighters' IAFF, Local 734, on behalf of their members, Plaintiffs–Appellants, and Baltimore Fire Officers Union, Local 964, International Association of Firefighters, Intervenor/Plaintiff, v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City, a municipal corporation, Defendant–Appellee, and Board of Trustees of the Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, a body politic and corporate; Edward J. Gallagher, in his capacity as Director, Department of Finance; Thomas P. Taneyhill, in his capacity as Executive Director, Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, Defendants.

762 F.3d 366

Robert F. CHERRY, Jr.; Robert J. Sledgeski; John Lewandowski; Charles Williams, Individually and on behalf of all persons similarly situated; Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge # 3, Inc.; Baltimore City Firefighters' IAFF, Local 734, on behalf of their members, Plaintiffs–Appellees,

Baltimore Fire Officers Union, Local 964, International Association of Firefighters, Intervenor/Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.MAYOR and CITY COUNCIL of BALTIMORE CITY, a municipal corporation, Defendant–Appellant,andBoard of Trustees of the Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, a body politic and corporate; Edward J. Gallagher, in his capacity as Director, Department of Finance; Thomas P. Taneyhill, in his capacity as Executive Director, Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, Defendants.

Robert F. Cherry, Jr.; Robert J. Sledgeski; John Lewandowski; Charles Williams, Individually and on behalf of all persons similarly situated; Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge # 3, Inc.; Baltimore City Firefighters' IAFF, Local 734, on behalf of their members, Plaintiffs,

and

Baltimore Fire Officers Union, Local 964, International Association of Firefighters, Intervenor/Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City, a municipal corporation, Defendant–Appellee,andBoard of Trustees of the Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, a body politic and corporate; Edward J. Gallagher, in his capacity as Director, Department of Finance; Thomas P. Taneyhill, in his capacity as Executive Director, Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, Defendants.

Robert F. Cherry, Jr.; Robert J. Sledgeski; John Lewandowski; Charles Williams, Individually and on behalf of all persons similarly situated; Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge # 3, Inc.; Baltimore City Firefighters' IAFF, Local 734, on behalf of their members, Plaintiffs–Appellants,

and

Baltimore Fire Officers Union, Local 964, International Association of Firefighters, Intervenor/Plaintiff,

v.Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City, a municipal corporation, Defendant–Appellee,andBoard of Trustees of the Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, a body politic and corporate; Edward J. Gallagher, in his capacity as Director, Department of Finance; Thomas P. Taneyhill, in his capacity as Executive Director, Fire and Police Employees' Retirement System of the City of Baltimore, Defendants.

Nos. 13–1007, 13–1115, 13–1116.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: May 14, 2014.

Decided: Aug. 6, 2014.

ARGUED:James Patrick Ulwick, Kramon & Graham, P.A., Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant/Cross–Appellee. Charles Owen Monk, II, Saul Ewing LLP, Baltimore, Maryland; Robert David Klausner, Klausner & Kaufman, PA, Plantation, Florida, for Appellees/Cross–Appellants. ON BRIEF:Kevin F. Arthur, Jean E. Lewis, Kramon & Graham, P.A., Baltimore, Maryland; George Nilson, Matthew W. Nayden, Baltimore City Law Department, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant/Cross–Appellee. Devin J. Doolan, Jr., Geoffrey M. Gamble, Baltimore Maryland, Paul M. Heylman, Saul Ewing LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellees/Cross–Appellants.

Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and KEENAN and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded by published opinion. Judge KEENAN wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge TRAXLER and Judge FLOYD joined.

BARBARA MILANO KEENAN, Circuit Judge:

In this appeal, we consider certain constitutional challenges related to a public pension plan sponsored by the City of Baltimore (the City). The plaintiffs are active and retired Baltimore police officers and firefighters who participate in the plan (the members), as well as the unions that represent them (together, the plaintiffs). The plaintiffs primarily challenge the City's decision changing the manner in which annual increases to pension benefits are calculated, claiming that the substitution of a cost-of-living adjustment for a “variable benefit” violates the members' rights under the Contract Clause and the Takings Clause of the federal Constitution.

After considering extensive evidence, the district court concluded that the elimination of the variable benefit constituted a substantial impairment of certain members' contract rights, and that the impairment was not reasonable and necessary to serve an important public purpose. The court therefore held that the City had violated the Contract Clause, and dismissed the Takings Clause claim as moot.

Upon our review, we conclude that the members' rights under the Contract Clause were not impaired, because the members retained a state law remedy for breach of contract. Therefore, we vacate the judgment of the district court with respect to the City's elimination of the variable benefit. We also affirm the court's decision upholding the remaining portions of the ordinance at issue, and vacate the court's order dismissing the Takings Clause claim. Accordingly, we remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I.

In 1962, the City instituted a public pension plan (the plan) that entitles eligible retired public safety employees to a monthly pension benefit. The basic pension benefit is funded by contributions of active members, annual contributions by the City, and earnings on the plan's investments. In 1983, the City established a method by which retirees could receive increases to their basic pension benefits (the Variable Benefit). The Variable Benefit was a “gain-sharing mechanism” that did not guarantee an increase in any given year. Instead, benefit increases were dependent on the earnings yielded by the plan's investments in the prior year. Retirees were entitled to receive a benefit increase if the investments earned more than 7.5% in the prior fiscal year. Under the Variable Benefit, all the plan earnings between 7.5% and 10%, and half the earnings in excess of 10%, would be designated for benefit increases. Any such increases derived from the Variable Benefit compounded in future years.

Since its inception, the Variable Benefit generated a benefit increase more than half the time, and retirees received an average increase of 3% annually. However, in recent years, the percentage increase generally has been lower.

Beginning in 2008, the City encountered substantial budget deficits that it was obligated to eliminate. The City implemented several measures to reduce these deficits that were unrelated to the plan, “including a hiring freeze, a pay freeze, unpaid furloughs, layoffs, deferral of infrastructure projects, rotating firehouse closures, reducing trash pickup, and cutting library hours.”

About the same time, the plan's actuary determined that certain actuarial adjustments should be made to the plan to improve the plan's financial stability. To accomplish this objective, the City would be required to pay annually an additional $64 million into the plan, which would result in a total annual contribution of $164.9 million. In light of these financial difficulties, the City began to consider alternatives to the Variable Benefit that would not require the City both to bear the burden of poor investment performance and to forego some of the investment gains in years of strong performance.

The City considered various options, including a proposal from the employees' unions, which recommended replacing the Variable Benefit with a 2% annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) for all retirees. The City ultimately enacted Ordinance 10–306 (the Ordinance), the legislation at issue in this case, which became effective in June 2010.

The Ordinance established a “Tiered COLA” under which retirees age 65 and older would receive an annual COLA of 2%, retirees age 55 to 64 would receive an annual COLA of 1%, and retirees under age 55 would not receive any COLA benefit. Through the Tiered COLA system, the City sought to provide the largest annual increases to the oldest retirees, who were least likely to have additional income from other sources. The Ordinance also instituted other changes to the plan, including increasing the retirement age, service, and member contribution requirements.

The plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit in the district court, asserting that the Ordinance violated the members' rights under the Contract Clause and Takings Clause of the federal Constitution. The plaintiffs' complaint also alleged a claim for breach of contract under Maryland law as well as several other state law claims.

The district court initially determined that because the substitution of the Tiered COLA for the Variable Benefit was the only portion of the Ordinance that applied retrospectively, that provision was the only part of the Ordinance subject to a Contract Clause analysis. The court conducted two hearings to determine the constitutionality of the change, and concluded that the substitution of the Tiered COLA for the Variable Benefit substantially impaired the contract rights of current retirees and members who were eligible to retire but had not yet done so.

The district court later evaluated whether the impairment was permissible because it advanced an important public purpose. The court concluded that the City had acted reasonably in eliminating the Variable Benefit in order to stabilize the plan. Nevertheless, the court held that by establishing the Tiered COLA, the Ordinance violated the Contract Clause. The court explained that the Tiered COLA system treated younger retirees more harshly than older retirees, and that the impairment was not necessary to achieve an important public purpose. The court therefore declared invalid and unenforceable the portion of the Ordinance eliminating the Variable Benefit and instituting the Tiered COLA.

The district court dismissed the plaintiffs' Takings Clause claim as moot, and granted the parties' agreed motion for a voluntary...