Sisco v. Board of Trustees of the Police Retirement System of St. Louis
| Decision Date | 29 August 2000 |
| Citation | 31 S.W.3d 114 |
| Parties | (Mo.App. E.D. 2000) . Richard J. Sisco, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. The Board of Trustees of the Police Retirement System of St. Louis, et al., Defendants/Respondents. Case Number: ED77049 Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Handdown Date: 0 |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Appeal From: Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, Hon. Philip D. Heagney
Counsel for Appellant: J.W. Gabriel
Counsel for Respondent: Mark Lawson
Opinion Summary: Richard J. Sisco filed an action against the Board of Trustees of the Police Retirement System of the City of St. Louis seeking a declaratory judgment that the Board of Trustees was not permitted, under section 86.297 RSMo (1994), to offset his workers' compensation against his disability retirement allowance where both benefits were receivable on account of the same injury.
AFFIRMED.
Division Two holds: The trial court did not err insofar as it offset Officer Sisco's workers' compensation award against his disability retirement allowance, reduced the amount of such retirement allowance subject to setoff by Officer Sisco's accumulated contributions, and reduced the workers' compensation offset to the extent of attorney's fees and expenses.
Richard J. Sisco ("Officer Sisco") filed an action against the Board of Trustees of the Police Retirement System of the City of St. Louis ("Board of Trustees")1 seeking a declaratory judgment that the Board of Trustees was not permitted, under section 86.297 RSMo (1994),2 to offset his workers' compensation against his disability retirement allowance where both benefits were receivable on account of the same injury. Following a bench trial, the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis entered judgment allowing the offset, but reducing the amount of workers' compensation to be applied as an offset by the amount of attorney's fees and related expenses incurred by Officer Sisco in connection therewith. The judgment also reduced the amount of retirement benefits subject to setoff by Officer Sisco's "accumulated contributions" to the Police Retirement System of the City of St. Louis ("Retirement System"). Officer Sisco appeals the judgment insofar as it allows the offset. The Board of Trustees cross-appeals to the extent the judgment excludes the attorney's fees and accumulated contributions from the offset calculation. We affirm.
Officer Sisco was commissioned as a police officer by the Board of Police Commissioners of the City of St. Louis ("Board of Police Commissioners") in June 1967. As a condition of employment, Officer Sisco was required to become a member of the Retirement System. Section 86.207. As a member, Officer Sisco was obligated to contribute seven percent of his salary for each pay period into the "members' savings fund." Section 86.320. Such contributions were entitled to earn interest, section 86.303, with the sum of the two to be known as his "accumulated contributions." Section 86.200.1(1). When a member is entitled to receive benefits from the Retirement System, other than benefits consisting solely of a refund of that member's contributions, such benefits are paid from the "benefit reserve fund." Section 86.323. The benefit reserve fund consists of a member's accumulated contributions, which are transferred from the members' savings fund at the time the payment of benefits is approved, plus an "additional amount from the general reserve fund as is calculated by the actuary to be necessary with the member's contributions to provide the payment of all benefits arising from the service of such member." Section 86.323. Monies in the general reserve fund are contributed by the City. Section 86.327.
In January 1985, Officer Sisco was severely and permanently injured in a motor vehicle accident while on duty. In April of that year, Officer Sisco filed a claim for workers' compensation under chapter 287 RSMo. For reasons not apparent to this court from the record, such claim was not heard by the Division of Workers' Compensation until December 1992. Meanwhile, the Board of Trustees retired Officer Sisco on August 1, 1986, pursuant to section 86.263, because his injuries rendered him totally and permanently incapacitated for the further performance of duty. On the same date, Officer Sisco began receiving a disability retirement allowance pursuant to section 86.267.1 in the amount of $1,670.40 per month.
In March, 1993, the Division of Workers' Compensation awarded to Officer Sisco: (1) $25,071.40 for medical expenses;3 (2) 75 1/7 weeks of temporary total disability benefits at $222.73 per week ($16,736.57); (3) permanent total disability benefits of $222.73 per week for the remainder of his life; and (4) 344 weeks of past-due permanent total disability benefits at 222.73 per week ($76,619.12). This award was not appealed and therefore became final thirty days thereafter. Section 287.495. Officer Sisco did not begin receiving his benefits until January 1996, however, again for reasons not apparent from the record. As payment for amounts past due under categories (2) and (4), plus interest thereon, Officer Sisco received a lump-sum payment of $131,679.65.
Because Officer Sisco was receiving both workers' compensation and disability retirement benefits for the same injury, the Board of Trustees elected to offset the former against the latter pursuant to section 86.297, which provides in relevant part:
Any amounts which may be paid or payable by the [City of St. Louis] under the provision of any workers' compensation or similar law to a member . . . on account of any disability . . . shall be offset against and payable in lieu of any benefits payable out of funds provided by the [City of St. Louis] under the provisions of sections 86.200 to 86.363 on account of the same disability . . . .4
The offset became effective January 1, 1996, and consisted of two separate reductions to Officer Sisco's monthly disability retirement allowance of $1,670.40. First, such amount would be permanently reduced by $965.16, the average amount he was to receive per month as permanent total disability workers' compensation benefits.5 Second, the amount would be temporarily reduced by $705.24 (the amount remaining after $965.16 is deducted) until the $131,679.65 lump-sum payment for past-due workers' compensation is recouped.6 The underlying declaratory judgment action followed.
Officer Sisco raises four points of error, each challenging the application of section 86.297. The Board of Trustees raises two points of error, challenging the exclusion from the setoff calculation of attorney's fees and accumulated contributions, respectively. Our standard of review of this court-tried case is set forth in Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 20, 32 (Mo. banc 1976): we will affirm the judgment of the trial court unless it is unsupported by substantial evidence, is against the weight of the evidence, or erroneously declares or applies the law. We will first address Officer Sisco's points, then those of the Board of Trustees.
In his first point, Officer Sisco claims the trial court erroneously applied section 86.297 because his workers' compensation benefits are not "paid or payable" by the City of St. Louis ("City"), as required by that section. Officer Sisco's argument is premised on section 287.120.1, which holds a worker's employer liable to furnish workers' compensation.7 Officer Sisco contends the Board of Police Commissioners, and not the City, was his employer, such that the City had no obligation to furnish workers' compensation under chapter 287 RSMo.
We agree that the Board of Police Commissioners was Officer Sisco's employer.8 We disagree, however, that the City had no obligation to furnish workers' compensation. Although the Board of Police Commissioners, as Officer Sisco's employer, was required to furnish his workers' compensation pursuant to section 287.102.1, it pays its expenses with funds received from the City, which the City is obligated by statute to provide. See sections 84.160.5 and .210 RSMo (1994 & Cum. Supp. 1999). For purposes of section 86.297, therefore, Officer Sisco's workers' compensation benefits are "payable" by the City.
Our holding in this regard is consistent with the Missouri Supreme Court's interpretation of section 86.297 that only the portion of workers' compensation payments that represents lost wages should be used to offset retirement benefits. Sheldon v. Board of Trustees of Police Retirement System, 779 S.W.2d 553 (Mo. banc 1989). In that case, the Court stated that the purpose of section 86.297 "is to prevent double compensation for one injury, thus giving the injured person a windfall." Id. at 557. In the present case, Officer Sisco's disability retirement allowance and his workers' compensation benefits serve to compensate him for lost wages as a result of service-related injuries sustained in January 1985. Consequently, the purpose of section 86.297 would be frustrated by refusing to allow the offset.
In his second point, Officer Sisco argues the setoff was improper because it effectively forces him to fund his workers' compensation benefits in violation of section 287.290, which provides, "No part of the cost of [workers' compensation] insurance shall be assessed against, collected from or paid by any employee." Because we hold that Officer Sisco's accumulated contributions are not subject to setoff, see the Board of Trustee's second point relied on, infra, he is receiving them in addition to his workers' compensation benefits, not in lieu thereof. In no way is he paying any portion of his workers' compensation benefits. Accordingly, this point is without merit.
Officer Sisco's third point contends the offset was improper for equitable reasons. As he correctly observes, police officers...
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