Scott v. Minneapolis Police Relief Ass'n, No. C7-99-1191.

• Decision Date: 03 August 2000
• Docket Number: No. C7-99-1191.
• Citation: 615 N.W.2d 66
• Parties: Jean E. SCOTT, Respondent, v. MINNEAPOLIS POLICE RELIEF ASSOCIATION, INC., petitioner, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

615 N.W.2d 66

Jean E. SCOTT, Respondent, v. MINNEAPOLIS POLICE RELIEF ASSOCIATION, INC., petitioner, Appellant.

No. C7-99-1191.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

August 3, 2000.

Rischmiller, Knippel & Aronson, C.J. Knippel, Minneapolis, for appellant.

Michael C. Black Law Office Ltd., Michael C. Black, St. Paul, for respondent.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

STRINGER, Justice.

Respondent Jean E. Scott and her husband Paul W. Scott, a Minneapolis police officer, were married in 1947. In 1979, the Scotts sold their house and separated. Both of the Scotts moved in with other people after separating, however they never divorced and continued to file joint tax returns until Paul Scott's death in August of 1995. After his death Jean Scott applied for pension benefits from the appellant, the Minneapolis Police Relief Association (MPRA), as a surviving spouse. The MPRA denied her request, claiming that Minn.Stat. § 423B.10, subd. 1(a) (1998), which provides that a surviving spouse must be "residing with" an MPRA member to receive benefits, requires the surviving spouse to reside with the member at the time of the member's death. The district court agreed and ruled that since Jean Scott did not reside with Paul Scott at the time of his death she was ineligible for pension benefits. The court of appeals reversed, holding that Jean Scott was entitled to surviving spouse benefits because she had resided with Paul Scott for many years and met the other requirements of the statute. See Scott v. Minneapolis Police Relief Ass'n, Inc., No. C7-99-1191, 1999 WL 1216301, at *2 (Minn.App. Dec. 21, 1999). We reverse.

A year after Paul and Jean Scott were married Paul joined the Minneapolis police force where he was employed until he retired on April 14, 1983. Jean Scott worked as a seasonal employee at Brown & Bigelow in the shipping department from approximately 1950 to 1956 and full time from 1956 until she retired in January, 1993.¹ The Scotts raised three children together but their marriage was volatile, according to Jean Scott, with many instances of abuse. She claimed that she was frequently physically abused by Paul Scott but never sought medical care as a result of these confrontations nor did she report the abuse to the police because she was afraid her husband would lose his job. She testified that in 1978 Paul Scott told her that he wanted a divorce because he was in love with another woman. Around this time Jean also began a relationship with another man.

Jean Scott testified that in 1978 she and Paul prepared divorce papers but Paul changed his mind about the divorce, saying "[if] * * * I divorce you, then you don't get my police pension and you deserve my pension." She also testified that he promised her that he would make sure she was taken care of. Lance Scott, the Scotts' son, testified that his father did not want a divorce because he realized that Jean would not receive his pension benefits.

In 1979 the Scotts sold their house and Paul moved into the house of another woman. Although Paul periodically traveled to California and Wisconsin, he lived in the house until he died and never indicated that he planned to resume living with Jean.

Randy Scott, another Scott child, testified that when the house sold Jean received $40,000, approximately 60% of the profits from the sale. Jean then moved to Florida, where she lived until she returned to Minnesota some time between 1983 and 1984. Upon returning to Minnesota she moved into the house of her friend where she was living when Paul died. Her friend testified that he intended to live with Jean until one of them died. Jean used part of the proceeds from the sale of the Scott house to build a garage at her friend's house and to decorate the house, and she resumed employment at Brown & Bigelow where she worked full-time until 1993 when she retired. Jean had no ownership interest in the house, garage, or the property where she lived and her friend provided her no financial support.

Although the Scotts separated they continued to file joint tax returns. On various special occasions between the time Jean retired in 1993 and August of 1995 Paul gave her money which Jean estimated to total approximately $1,500. The only other money Jean received from Paul after 1979 was $1,000 he gave to Jean to create an IRA in her name which designated him as the beneficiary.² Jean also testified that since their separation in 1979 Paul mentioned living together once in 1985 but never brought it up again. The two saw each other only on special family occasions.

After Paul's death Jean applied for surviving spouse benefits under Paul's pension with the MPRA. She received a letter mailed on December 2, 1996 from the MPRA denying her benefits stating:

[The MPRA] declines to pay any surviving spouse benefits to Jean E. Scott, surviving spouse of Paul W. Scott. The reason for the denial is the acknowledgment by the surviving spouse that she was not `residing with' Paul W. Scott on the date of his death. Statute requires that she be `residing with' the police officer on the date of his death, otherwise she is not entitled to pension benefits.

The executive director of the MPRA stated in an affidavit that Paul knew Jean could receive benefits only if she was residing with him when he died because police officers periodically receive a booklet summarizing retirement benefits and requirements for surviving spouses. Lance Scott, as the executor of his father's estate, also testified that when he was going through his father's personal belongings he ran across a 1991 issue of a magazine published for the Minnesota Police Pension Counsel containing a highlighted article entitled "Minneapolis Police Relief Association, surviving spouse defined." The article explained that a "surviving spouse" under the statute was a person legally married to and residing with a member and excluded a spouse who deserts a member or who is not dependent upon a member for support.

The executive director was aware of only three other cases where benefits were denied to a surviving spouse, all on the basis that the wife was not residing with her husband at the time of his death.³ He further testified that there were three bases for denial of benefits to Jean: she was not living with Paul at the time of his death; she deserted him because they were living in separate residences and she had lived in Florida after their separation; and she was not dependent on him for support at the time of his death.

In April, 1997, Jean filed suit alleging that as a "surviving spouse" as defined in Minn.Stat. § 423B.01, subd. 12 (1998), she is entitled to benefits under Minn.Stat. § 423B.10, subd. 1(a), and if she is not entitled to benefits, then the statutes violate the Equal Protection Clauses of the United States and Minnesota Constitutions.⁴ The district court granted MPRA's motion for summary judgment in May of 1998 ruling that the plain meaning of Minn.Stat. § 423B.10, subd. 1(a), clearly defines a "surviving spouse" as a spouse who was residing with the deceased member, and because the legislature used the present tense of "reside," it meant residing at the time of the member's death. Therefore the court held that Jean did not qualify as a surviving spouse for pension benefit purposes. The court observed that if the legislature had intended otherwise it would have used "resided," and that the denial of benefits was fair and just because although the Scott marriage was not a sham, the parties separated and had no intent to resume living together. The court also found that Jean was not dependent upon Paul when he died but declined to rule on this basis under section 423B.01, subdivision 12, because Jean was already precluded from receiving benefits under the "residing with" language in section 423B.10, subdivision 1(a).

In December 1998 the district court issued an additional ruling denying Jean Scott's motion for summary judgment based upon her claim that the statute violated her right to equal protection under the Minnesota and United States constitutions.⁵ The court concluded that under Minnesota's rational basis test, the purposes of the statute to support marriage, prevent sham marriages and reward spouses who remain in cohabitation were legitimate. The court further concluded that it was reasonable for legislators to believe that imposing a requirement of "residing with" the member at the time of the member's death reasonably promotes these purposes and that it was permissible for the legislature to limit those who qualify for pension benefits as a surviving spouse by distinguishing between spouses residing with a member and those residing elsewhere. To Jean's argument that the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA)⁶ does not require cohabitation at the time of the member's death, the court noted that PERA is a different pension plan and therefore its terms are irrelevant.

The court of appeals reversed the district court.⁷ See Scott, 1999 WL 1216301, at *2. The court held that the "residing with the decedent" language in Minn.Stat. § 423B.10, subd. 1(a), modifies the preceding phrase "was the legally married spouse of the decedent" and since Jean was married to Paul for 31 years, they had raised three children before separating and had filed joint tax returns until Paul's death, their marriage was not a sham and Jean did reside with Paul. See Scott, 1999 WL 1216301, at *1. The court also cited other pension statutes explicitly providing that residency at death is required,⁸ and observed that chapter 423B has been revised three times since its adoption in 1992 with no change to the definition of surviving spouse except for a 1997 amendment extending benefits to surviving spouses who were married after retirement from active service. See Scott, 1999 WL 1216301, at *2. The court noted that Minn.Stat. § 423B.10, subd. 1(d) (1998), which requires that the surviving spouse be ...