The state Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a class-action lawsuit brought by retired Arkansas State Police troopers that alleged changes to the organization's Deferred Retirement Option Plan were unconstitutional.
Maj. Cleve Barfield, Cpl. Ricky Briggs, Capt. Loyd Franklin, Capt. Myron Hall, Lt. Glenn Sligh and Sgt. Mack Thompson sued the Arkansas State Police Retirement System and its board of trustees over changes to the way interest rates were calculated.
Calculations for the interest rates on the state police's Deferred Retirement Option Plan were established when the program was founded in 1995. The Legislature passed a law in 2007 that allowed the trustees to set the rate, which they lowered in 2009. Troopers in the retirement system benefit based on the interest rates.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mackie Pierce certified the lawsuit for class-action status in 2013, potentially allowing as many as 70 retired state troopers to join the lawsuit, which sought either a remedy to the interest rates or monetary damages.
Attorneys for the retirement system and its board of trustees argued that they had sovereign immunity from being sued, the troopers sued too late, the troopers did not explore all other potential remedies before suing, and the troopers failed to properly demonstrate why they could be entitled to relief.
Pierce rejected the state's claim of sovereign immunity, ruling that the retirement system funds in question were not a part of the state treasury but existed because of member contributions. In other words, the money belonged to the officers, not the state. Pierce granted summary judgment in favor of the troopers in December 2015 and awarded monetary damages.
The retirement system's board of trustees appealed Pierce's decision.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court released an opinion reversing Pierce's decision and dismissed the troopers' claim entirely.
The court ruled that the people sued were sued in their official capacities, thus the troopers had sued "the State," which has sovereign immunity from lawsuits.
Further, the funds in question concern the state treasury, the court ruled. Members are not required to contribute, but their employer -- Arkansas State Police -- does. When the retirement system faced a shortfall in 2009, the state Legislature authorized $9 million to help sustain it, the court noted.
"Thus, appellees are incorrect that their suit does not implicate the state treasury, and we hold that the circuit court erred in finding that appellants were not immune for this reason," Associate Justice Courtney Hudson Goodson wrote in the majority opinion.
While sovereign immunity has exceptions that include the constitutional-rights violations the troopers alleged, the court sided with the trustees' argument that exceptions don't apply to claims that seek monetary damages.
"We have never recognized this exception to allow a claim for damages to proceed against the State," Goodson wrote.
Further, trustees deliberately reduced the interest rate and did not commit an error that may have made them liable under state law, the court ruled.
Metro on 03/31/2017