Katalinic v. The Board of Trustees of the Municipal Employees'

CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 14, 2008
Docket1-07-2950 Rel
StatusPublished

This text of Katalinic v. The Board of Trustees of the Municipal Employees' (Katalinic v. The Board of Trustees of the Municipal Employees') is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Katalinic v. The Board of Trustees of the Municipal Employees', (Ill. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

FIFTH DIVISION November 14, 2008

No. 1-07-2950

DANIEL KATALINIC, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellant, ) Cook County. ) v. ) No. 07 CH 12890 ) THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE MUNICIPAL ) EMPLOYEES', OFFICERS', AND OFFICIALS' ANNUITY AND ) BENEFIT FUND, JOSEPH MALATESTA, STEVEN J. LUX, ) STEPHANIE D. NEELY, PETER BREJNAK and JOHN K. ) GIBSON, in Their Official Capacities, ) The Honorable ) LeRoy Martin, Jr., Defendants-Appellees. ) Judge Presiding.

PRESIDING JUSTICE FITZGERALD SMITH delivered the opinion of the court:

Following an administrative hearing, defendants-appellees The Board of Trustees of the

Municipal Employees', Officers', and Officials' Annuity and Benefit Fund (Fund), and its

members Joseph Malatesta, Steven J. Lux, Stephanie D. Neely, Peter Brejnak and John K.

Gibson, in their official capacities (collectively, Board) held that plaintiff-appellant Daniel

Katalinic (plaintiff) forfeited his annuity and other benefits from his municipal employment due

to his felony conviction. The trial court affirmed the Board's decision. Plaintiff appeals,

contending that, because his conviction was not connected to his employment, the Board legally

erred in ordering forfeiture. He asks that we reverse the decisions of the Board and the trial court

and reinstate his annuity. For the following reasons, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

The following facts have been taken in large part from plaintiff's plea agreement in the No. 1-07-2950

federal case pursued against him which underlies the instant matter.

Plaintiff worked for the City of Chicago (City) for 33 years. Between 2000 and 2003, he

was employed as the deputy commissioner of street operations for the department of streets and

sanitation.

In 2000, upon the request of Robert Sorich, assistant to the director of the mayor's office

of intergovernmental affairs, plaintiff formed a political organization of coemployees to perform

political tasks during various election periods. As the head of the organization, which grew to

over 200 streets and sanitation employees, plaintiff would obtain promotions for his members

based on the amount of political work each performed. Once job openings with the City were

posted, plaintiff would submit prioritized lists of employees in the organization to Sorich for

these positions, while giving lower priority to those not in his organization. Plaintiff knew that

the names he submitted were to be rewarded fraudulently for political work with promotions and,

indeed, that the people he included on lists for promotions routinely received them. Plaintiff

retired in June 2003.

In early 2004, City officials announced new job openings, namely, for career service

motor truck drivers. As he had done before, plaintiff created, prioritized and submitted a list of

workers for these positions to Sorich, giving top billing to those within his organization. Again,

those workers prioritized by plaintiff received the positions.

In 2005, following a federal investigation involving several people including Sorich,

plaintiff was indicted by a federal grand jury for mail fraud. The count that ultimately led to his

conviction charged that on July 15, 2004, plaintiff knowingly caused mail delivery of a letter to a

2 No. 1-07-2950

streets and sanitation employee advising him of a promotion to a career service motor truck

driver position. Plaintiff entered into a plea agreement on this charge and was convicted.1 He

was sentenced to federal imprisonment.

In late 2006, the Fund moved to suspend plaintiff's annuity payments and for leave to file

a motion for summary judgment. They asserted that plaintiff's guilty plea disqualified him from

receiving benefits under the Illinois Pension Code (Code) (40 ILCS 5/8-101 et seq. (West 2004)).

The cause proceeded before the Board, which ultimately granted the motion for summary

judgment. In its decision, the Board cited section 8-251 of the Code, which states in part:

"None of the benefits provided for in this Article shall be paid to any

person who is convicted of any felony relating to or arising out of or in connection

with his service as a municipal employee." 40 ILCS 5/8-251 (West 2004).

The Board found that plaintiff's "felonious conduct started with his City employment and

continued into retirement." Accordingly, it held that there was no issue of material fact that he

was convicted of a felony "relating to or arising out of or in connection with his service as a

municipal employee," and, as the Code's felony forfeiture provision "is not limited to felonies

1 In his plea agreement, plaintiff also stipulated to certain uncharged bribery conduct.

Although he seemingly makes this an issue in his brief on appeal, it is clear from the record, and

plaintiff ultimately concedes, that the bribery conduct neither formed the basis of his federal

conviction nor was ever mentioned by the Board (or trial court) as a basis for the forfeiture of his

pension. We mention the bribery conduct only because plaintiff did so on appeal; it is otherwise

wholly irrelevant to the instant cause.

3 No. 1-07-2950

that are committed prior to an individual's retirement," plaintiff's conviction forfeited his pension.

The Board ordered the forfeiture of his annuity and other benefits effective December 2006. The

trial court affirmed the Board's decision.

ANALYSIS

On appeal, plaintiff contends that, because his felony conviction was not connected to his

City employment, the Board legally erred in ordering pension forfeiture. He asserts that section

8-251 of the Code requires that there must be a connection or nexus between his conviction and

his employment and, as his employment was not a necessary condition to his conviction, no such

connection existed. He further argues that his political organization, which was the basis for his

conviction, was independent of his public employment, he was not employed at the time of

conviction, and the conviction would have occurred regardless of his employment. Relying

principally on Romano v. Municipal Employees Annuity & Benefit Fund of Chicago, No. 1-07-

1132 (August 5, 2008) (Hall, J., dissenting)2, and Cullen v. Retirement Board of the Policeman's

Annuity & Benefit Fund, 271 Ill. App. 3d 1105 (1995), for his arguments, and attempting to

distinguish Devoney v. Retirement Board of the Policemen's Annuity & Benefit Fund for the City

of Chicago, 199 Ill. 2d 414 (2002), Bauer v. State Employees' Retirement System of Illinois, 366

Ill. App. 3d 1007 (2006), and Bloom v. Municipal Employees' Annuity & Benefit Fund of

Chicago, 339 Ill. App. 3d 807 (2003), plaintiff insists that the pension statute must be liberally

2 On August 12, 2008, plaintiff filed a motion with this court to cite Romano as

supplemental authority. With no response having been filed by the Board, this court allowed

plaintiff's motion.

4 No. 1-07-2950

construed in his favor.

As a threshold matter, we note that the parties disagree regarding the appropriate standard

of review in this cause. Plaintiff proposes a de novo standard, arguing that we are being asked to

interpret section 8-251 of the Code and, thus, a legal question is involved. The Board,

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