Harrison v. TRAUSTEES OF LA. STATE EMPLOYEES'RETIREMENT SYSTEM

671 So. 2d 385, 1995 WL 588289
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 6, 1995
Docket95 CA 0048
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 671 So. 2d 385 (Harrison v. TRAUSTEES OF LA. STATE EMPLOYEES'RETIREMENT SYSTEM) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harrison v. TRAUSTEES OF LA. STATE EMPLOYEES'RETIREMENT SYSTEM, 671 So. 2d 385, 1995 WL 588289 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

671 So.2d 385 (1995)

John R. HARRISON
v.
TRUSTEES OF the LOUISIANA STATE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM.

No. 95 CA 0048.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

October 6, 1995.

*387 Charles A. Traylor, III, West Monroe, for Plaintiff-Appellee John R. Harrison.

R. Stephen Stark, Baton Rouge, for Defendant-Appellant Trustees of the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System.

Before SHORTESS, FOGG and PARRO, JJ.

FOGG, Judge.

Plaintiff, John R. Harrison, filed suit against defendant, Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System ("LASERS"), seeking a declaratory judgment regarding his entitlement to certain retirement benefits. The parties dispute the proper retirement benefit percentage factor ("benefit factor") applicable to the transfer of eleven and one-half years of creditable service from the District Attorneys' Retirement System ("DARS") to LASERS. The trial court determined the appropriate benefit factor was three percent. We affirm.

FACTS

Plaintiff served as an assistant district attorney and was a member of DARS from August 1, 1970, to December 31, 1981. In 1981, he was elected district judge, Fourth Judicial District Court, Division "D," and took the oath of office on January 1, 1982. Plaintiff timely exercised the option to become a member of LASERS and transferred his eleven and one-half years of service credit from DARS to LASERS. At plaintiff's request, DARS transferred the sum of $45,862.57 to LASERS during January of 1982.[1]

Plaintiff has served as a district court judge since January 1, 1982. Pursuant to Acts 1991, No. 1063 [LSA-R.S. 11:558(A)(5)], plaintiff elected to retire at the end of his present term of office, December 31, 1996.[2]*388 During February of 1992, Judge Harrison received a letter from the Executive Director of LASERS addressing his transferred service credits. The letter states, in pertinent part:

Your credits in [DARS] were transferred in prior to the requirement that transfers be paid for on an actuarial basis. Thus, the credits were transferred in at the rate of 2.5%. There are no provisions of law which permit an "upgrade" of the rate at which service is credited.
Therefore, when you elect to retire, the service transferred in will be calculated at 2.5% per year.

Subsequently, Judge Harrison filed suit against LASERS seeking a judgment declaring the benefit factor applicable to the transferred credits[3] is 3.5% or, in the alternative, 3.0%. The trial judge ruled in favor of plaintiff, setting the benefit factor applicable to the transferred service at 3.0%. LASERS appeals, maintaining the trial court erred in setting the retirement percentage rate in excess of 2.5%. Judge Harrison has answered the appeal and seeks a modification of the judgment to increase the benefit factor from 3.0% to 3.5%.

ISSUES

The issues raised on appeal by both parties are questions of law. LASERS contends (1) the trial court's ruling violates LSA-Const. Art. X, § 29(E), which addresses actuarial soundness; (2) the trial court erred in failing to give retroactive application to LSA-R.S. 11:143(D)(1), which addresses transfers between retirement systems; and (3) the trial court failed to implement the doctrine of contemporaneous construction.

Judge Harrison asserts the benefit factor applicable to his transferred credits is 3.5%, the benefit factor provided by the LASERS plan (governed by LSA-R.S. 11:401 through LSA-R.S. 11:591), which includes the Retirement Plan for Judges and Officers of the Court ("the Judges' plan"), LSA-R.S. 11:551 through 11:571.[4] He calculates the benefit factor to be 3.5%, comprised of the 2.5% plus $300 per year provided by LSA-R.S. 11:444(A)[5] (the factor used pursuant to LASERS' non-judge retirement plan) and the 1% provided by LSA-R.S. 11:557[6] (an additional benefit provided by the Judges' plan.) Alternatively, Judge Harrison contends the legislation governing the LASERS' plan and the Judges' plan during 1982, when his service years were transferred, provides the applicable benefit factor of 3.0%.[7]

ANALYSIS

A. LAW IN EFFECT WHEN THE TRANSFER OCCURRED

We must determine the applicable benefit factor pursuant to the law in effect when the transfer of service credits was effected, January 25, 1982, prior to addressing the issues concerning retroactive application of subsequently enacted constitutional and statutory provisions affecting the various retirement plans.

The Louisiana Legislature first adopted the Judges' plan, a contributory retirement plan for judges and officers of the court pursuant to Acts 1976, No. 518.[8] The plan, implemented as part of the LASERS plan, designated the employer and employee contributions to be made to the system. It provided for an additional retirement benefit *389 of 1% for judges and court officers and provided for the transfer of creditable service from other retirement systems. The Judges' plan has been governed by the specific provisions contained in this act, the amendments to these provisions, and the general provisions of the LASERS plan.

Acts 1976, No. 518, was in effect when DARS transferred Judge Harrison's eleven and one-half years of service credits to LASERS. The following provisions, in pertinent part, are relevant to the issues raised in this appeal:

§ 11. Membership in the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System
Anything in R.S. 42:553 [addressing classes of employees not eligible to be a member of LASERS] to the contrary notwithstanding, the judges and court officers set forth in Section 13 of this Part shall be eligible to become members of [LASERS] and obtain credit in and transfer credit to said system, as set forth herein....
. . . .
§ 13. Eligible judges and court officers This Part shall apply to all present and future judges and court officers hereinafter enumerated:
. . . .
(4) Judges of the district courts.
. . . .
§ 15. Additional benefits
Any person covered by this Part who elects to become a member of [LASERS] shall receive an additional benefit equal to one percent times the number of years of service as a judge or court officer times his average compensation.
. . . .
§ 17. Transfer of creditable service Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any person covered by this Part who elects to become a member of [LASERS], shall ... have the right to transfer to [LASERS] his total accredited years of service from any other state, municipal, parochial, or other statewide or local retirement system which he leaves or has left. Transfer shall be effective upon the certification of total service credit by the retirement system transferring the member to [LASERS]. The retirement system transferring the member also shall transfer the employee and employers contributions to the account of the transferee in full to [LASERS].
§ 18. Contributions
In addition to the regular employee contribution required by law to be paid into [LASERS] by its members, each ... member... shall contribute to said system an amount equal to four percent of all salary or compensation received by him for service as a judge or as a court officer....

DARS was established pursuant to Acts 1956, No. 56.[9]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
671 So. 2d 385, 1995 WL 588289, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harrison-v-traustees-of-la-state-employeesretirement-system-lactapp-1995.