Cranston opt-out case heading to Supreme Court

CRANSTON MAYOR Allan Fung, who called the decision historic news, said the city “is prepared to do whatever it takes to defend this historic decision upholding our pension reforms all the way to the Supreme Court.”  / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
CRANSTON MAYOR Allan Fung, who called the decision historic news, said the city “is prepared to do whatever it takes to defend this historic decision upholding our pension reforms all the way to the Supreme Court.” / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

CRANSTON – Following a Friday R.I. Superior Court ruling in favor of Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung’s decision to freeze yearly benefit increases, the plaintiffs, a group of retired Cranston police and firefighters, announced plans to appeal the decision to the R.I. Supreme Court.
“The members of the plaintiff class are disappointed that the court gave total deference to the city, which created its own financial downfall by failing to contribute to the required annual pension contributions over decades,” the group, known formally as the Cranston Police Retirees Action Committee, or CPRAC, told Providence Business News.
“The court characterized this failure as an ‘unprecedented fiscal emergency,’ which [CPRAC] presented evidence to refute. It will file an appeal on these issues,” the group added.
Superior Court Judge Sarah J. Taft-Carter presided over the case, which stems from 2012 after Fung froze yearly benefit increases – known as cost-of-living adjustments – for retired police and firefighters. The city for years had underfunded the public safety workers’ pension benefits, which was headed for bankruptcy as liabilities greatly exceeded set-aside assets.
Most of the city’s public safety workers entered into a class-action settlement with the city, but CPRAC – formed by 75-retired police and firefighters – opted out and sued Fung, members of his staff and the city, accusing the defendants of infractions to contract clauses of the R.I. Constitution and U.S. Constitution. In opting out of the class-action lawsuit, CPRAC members are subject to harsher 10-year cost-of-living adjustment freezes, but the group says it started this lawsuit with the assumption it would fight it until the end.
“[CPRAC] filed this suit with the understanding that it was not going to be decided finally at the Superior Court level,” the group said.
Fung, who called the decision historic news, told PBN the city “is prepared to do whatever it takes to defend this historic decision upholding our pension reforms all the way to the Supreme Court.”
Taft-Carter is currently determining whether to hand down a similar decision for an opt-out case in Providence that stems from the same time period under the former Mayor Angel Taveras’ administration.

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