Tom Fudge: Today, a San Diego judge is expected to rule in the first phase a lawsuit by the San Diego City Attorney. Mike Aguirre is suing to cancel city employee pension benefits that he argues were illegally granted in 1996 and 2002. But if the judge decides that two legal settlements, involving the city, apply to this case, it could knock the wind out of the city attorney’s entire effort.
These two settlements occurred in the years 2000 and 2004. The first one, the Corbett case, increased pension benefits for city workers because the city had not correctly calculated the benefits. The second settlement, the Gleason case, forced the city to end the practice of under-funding the pension system. Some people have argued if these two corrective actions were deemed applicable to the current lawsuit, there would be very little for Aguirre and city to collect. This would be true even if the judge agrees that the two pension benefit increases are illegal.
Guest
- Mike Aguirre, San Diego City Attorney
