Hooker v. Retirement Bd. of Firemen's Ann.

• Decision Date: 23 April 2009
• Docket Number: No. 1-07-3560.,1-07-3560.
• Citation: 907 N.E.2d 447
• Parties: Elaine HOOKER and June E. Murphy, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. The RETIREMENT BOARD OF the FIREMEN'S ANNUITY AND BENEFIT FUND OF CHICAGO, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

907 N.E.2d 447

Elaine HOOKER and June E. Murphy, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. The RETIREMENT BOARD OF the FIREMEN'S ANNUITY AND BENEFIT FUND OF CHICAGO, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 1-07-3560.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Fourth Division.

April 23, 2009.

Burke Burns & Pinelli, Ltd. (Vincent D. Pinelli, Esq., Blanca R. Dominguez, Esq., of counsel), Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.

Martin O. Holland (Martin O. Holland, of counsel), Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Justice NEVILLE delivered the opinion of the court:

In this case, the plaintiffs, Mrs. Elaine Hooker and Mrs. June E. Murphy, are the widows of fireman Michael Hooker (fireman Hooker) and fireman James Murphy (fireman Murphy), respectively. Both fireman Hooker and fireman Murphy were injured in the course of their active duty in the service of the Chicago fire department (CFD) with injuries that rendered them incapable of returning to active service. The plaintiffs each filed a claim with the Retirement Board of the Firemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago (Board), the defendant in this case. The Board granted the claims and awarded each widow a widow's minimum annuity pursuant to section 6-141.1 of the Pension Code. 40 ILCS 5/6-141.1 (West 2000). The widows filed a complaint for administrative review in the circuit court and requested that a widow's duty death annuity be paid pursuant to section 6-140 of the Pension Code. 40 ILCS 5/6-140 (West 2000). On June 2, 2005, the circuit court entered an agreed order that remanded Mrs. Hooker's and Mrs. Murphy's cases to the Board. On remand, the Board conducted hearings in both Mrs. Hooker's and Mrs. Murphy's cases and awarded each of them a widow's duty death annuity pursuant to section 6-140 of the Pension Code retroactive from the date of this court's opinion in Bertucci v. Retirement Board of the Firemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund, 351 Ill.App.3d 368, 286 Ill.Dec. 328, 813 N.E.2d 1021 (2004). On December 20, 2007, the circuit court vacated the Board's decision and directed the Board to pay the plaintiffs, Hooker and Murphy, a widow's duty death benefit pursuant to section 6-140 of the Pension Code retroactive from the date of the death of each woman's husband. 40 ILCS 5/6-140 (West 2000). The circuit court also ordered the Board to pay the plaintiffs prejudgment and postjudgment interest on the money due to each of them.

The Board appeals from the circuit court's order and presents the following issue for this court to review: (1) whether the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to vacate the Board's decision following the remand of the case because the circuit court's June 2, 2005, order was a final disposition in which the circuit court did not specifically retain jurisdiction; (2) assuming the circuit court retained jurisdiction to vacate the Board's decision, whether it erred by failing to dismiss the plaintiffs' complaint as moot because the Board, upon remand, awarded Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy the relief they requested; (3) whether the circuit court erred when it awarded a widow's duty death annuity pursuant to section 6-140 of the Pension Code; (4) whether the circuit court erred when it awarded prejudgment interest; and (5) whether the circuit court erred when it awarded postjudgment interest at an interest rate of 9% instead of an interest rate of 6% applicable to governmental entities. For the following reasons, we find (1) that the circuit court retained jurisdiction over the plaintiffs' administrative review action because the circuit court's remand order was not a final order; (2) that Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy's administrative review action was not rendered moot by the Board's decision following the remand; (3) that sections 6-116 and 6-140 of the Pension Code direct the Board to compute the widows' duty death annuity from the date of each fireman's death and not from the date of the Bertucci decision; (4) that the plaintiffs were entitled to prejudgment interest; and (5) that the plaintiffs were entitled to postjudgment interest at the rate of 9%, therefore, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Fireman Hooker began his employment with the CFD on April 1, 1967, and suffered a work-related injury to his right shoulder and lower back on July 13, 1988. On August 16, 1989, the Board determined that Hooker had sustained a permanent injury to his right shoulder and lower back and awarded him duty disability benefits pursuant to section 6-151 of the Pension Code. 40 ILCS 5/6-151 (West 2000).

Fireman Hooker died on December 6, 2000, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. On January 29, 2001, the Board notified Mrs. Hooker that she would begin receiving a widow's annuity pursuant to section 6-141.1 of the Pension Code. 40 ILCS 5/6-141.1 (West 2000). On January 29, 2004, the Board again wrote to Mrs. Hooker and informed her that her widow's annuity would increase because of a new labor contract between the firefighters and the City of Chicago.

Fireman Murphy began working for the CFD on October 16, 1966. On December 9, 1985, fireman Murphy suffered a stroke while responding to a fire. The Board granted fireman Murphy a duty disability benefit pursuant to section 6-151 of the Pension Code. 40 ILCS 5/6-151 (West 2000). Fireman Murphy died of a myocardial infarction on March 28, 1998. The Board granted Mrs. Murphy a widow's minimum annuity pursuant to section 6-141.1 of the Pension Code. 40 ILCS 5/6-141.1 (West 2000).

On February 5, 2003, Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy filed a complaint and sought administrative review of the Board's decisions that granted each woman a widow's minimum annuity pursuant to section 6-141.1 of the Pension Code. 40 ILCS 5/6-141.1 (West 2000).¹ Each woman sought duty death annuity calculated from the date of her husband's death pursuant to section 6-140 of the Pension Code. 40 ILCS 5/6-140 (West 2000).² The complaint alleged that Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy were denied a hearing and the opportunity to present evidence to show that they were entitled to a duty death annuity. By agreement of the parties, the cases were continued to give this court the opportunity to issue rulings in other cases that involved issues similar to those presented here. See Barry v. Retirement Board of the Firemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund, 357 Ill.App.3d 749, 293 Ill.Dec. 740, 828 N.E.2d 1238 (2005); Bertucci v. Retirement Board of the Firemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund, 351 Ill.App.3d 368, 286 Ill.Dec. 328, 813 N.E.2d 1021 (2004). The other cases, Barry and Bertucci, have since been decided by this court.

On June 2, 2005, the circuit court entered an agreed order that remanded Mrs. Hooker's and Mrs. Murphy's cases to the Board for a hearing consistent with the Barry opinion. The June 2, 2005, order also set a status date before the circuit court on October 27, 2005.

On December 15, 2005, the Board conducted hearings in Mrs. Hooker's and Mrs. Murphy's cases. On January 26, 2006, the Board sent letters that informed Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy that it found that they were entitled to receive a widow's duty death annuity in connection with their husbands' deaths. According to the Board's January 26, 2006, letters, a retroactive payment of the widow's duty death annuity benefits would be made retroactive to the date of the Bertucci opinion. The letters further advised Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy that they had a right to file an administrative review action within 35 days of the date of the letters if they wished to contest the Board's decision.

On August 28, 2006, Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy filed a motion to amend the February 5, 2003, complaint and add a class action claim. The Board filed an answer on September 18, 2007, and on November 5, 2007, also filed a memorandum in opposition to Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy's complaint. On November 26, 2007, Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy filed a brief in support of their complaint.

On December 20, 2007, the circuit court vacated the Board's decision and found that Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy were each entitled to receive a widow's duty death annuity, pursuant to section 6-140 of the Pension Code, that was to be calculated from the dates of their respective husbands' deaths. The circuit court also awarded Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy prejudgment and postjudgment interest.

ANALYSIS

Jurisdiction

The Board argues that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to vacate its order because the circuit court's June 2, 2005, remand order constituted a final disposition and the circuit court did not retain jurisdiction to review the Board's decisions after the remand hearings. Mrs. Hooker and Mrs. Murphy argue that the circuit court's June 2, 2005, remand order was not a final decision because, in addition to ordering a remand to the Board for a hearing, the case was set for further status before the circuit court.

Section 3-104 of the Administrative Review Law, formerly known as the Administrative Review Act,³ provides that the circuit court is vested with jurisdiction to review final administrative decisions. 735 ILCS 5/3-104 (West 2006). Section 3-104 of the Administrative Review Law also provides that "[t]he court first acquiring jurisdiction of any action to review a final administrative decision shall have and retain jurisdiction of the action until final disposition of the action." 735 ILCS 5/3-104 (West 2006). Decisions of the Board regarding a widow's entitlement to the payment of such a compensation annuity are appealable provided the order is both final and terminates the litigation between the parties. Daley v. License Appeal Comm'n, 311 Ill.App.3d 194, 200, 243 Ill. Dec. 905, 724 N.E.2d 214 (1999), citing Brooks v. Board of Fire & Police Commissioners, 181 Ill.App.3d 714, 715, 130 Ill. Dec. 377, 537 N.E.2d 444 (1989).

Section 3-111 empowers the circuit court, "where a hearing has been held by the agency, to reverse and remand the decision in whole or in part, and, in that case, to state the questions requiring further hearing or...