Langsford v. Firefighters Ret. Sys.

247 So. 3d 728
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 29, 2018
Docket2017 CA 0719
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 247 So. 3d 728 (Langsford v. Firefighters Ret. Sys.) 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
Langsford v. Firefighters Ret. Sys., 247 So. 3d 728 (La. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

McCLENDON, J.

A retiree seeks review of a trial court judgment that granted the Firefighters' Retirement System's motion for summary judgment and dismissed the retiree's suit that sought to remove a beneficiary from his retirement plan. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Alvin Langsford was employed as a firefighter by the City of Kenner Fire Department from December 3, 1984 until April 9, 2009. On March 6, 2012, the Firefighters' Retirement System ("FRS") sent Mr. Langsford correspondence that the FRS would commence payment of his retirement benefit when Mr. Langsford turned fifty on April 23, 2012. The FRS enclosed a "Retirement/DROP/IBO Application" that required Mr. Langsford to select a retirement benefit option. The correspondence instructed Mr. Langsford to review and complete the application and return it to the FRS.

Mr. Langsford completed and submitted his application on March 16, 2012, electing "Option 3" and designating Luciene Pessoa DaSilviera as the beneficiary of 50% of his retirement benefit after his death. At the time of the election, Mr. Langsford and Ms. DaSilviera were engaged to be married. Next to his election, Mr. Langsford made the following acknowledgement below which he signed his name: "I hereby acknowledge that my option selection on this application is irrevocable and I cannot change my decision later." Below the referenced acknowledgement, Mr. Langsford executed an affidavit where he recognized that he was not married at the time of the election and that his retirement benefit would be reduced.

Mr. Langsford received his first benefit payment in May 2012. Subsequently, according to Mr. Langsford, he and Ms. DaSilviera amicably broke off their engagement. Mr. Langsford then contacted the FRS to request that Ms. DaSilviera be deleted as the Option 3 beneficiary. On September 20, 2012, the FRS denied Mr. Langsford's request, noting that the Application clearly stated that "The beneficiary MAY NOT be changed after retirement/DROP effective date."

In July 2014, Mr. Langsford filed a Petition, naming the FRS as defendant, and seeking, among other things, a declaratory judgment and mandatory injunction *730ordering the FRS to pay benefits at the actuarially appropriate rate under the election as sole beneficiary under the plan.

Subsequently, the FRS moved for summary judgment on the grounds that Mr. Langsford's selection of Option 3 was irrevocable given that the time period for modification under the relevant statute had passed. In opposition to FRS's motion for summary judgment, Mr. Langsford asserted that there was neither a constitutional nor statutory prohibition to the FRS effecting his request to delete the beneficiary.

Following a hearing, the trial court granted the FRS's motion for summary judgment. On October 12, 2016, the trial court signed a judgment dismissing Mr. Langsford's claims against the FRS. Mr. Langsford has appealed, asserting that the trial court erred in concluding that his election of a beneficiary under Option 3 was irrevocable.

DISCUSSION

When summary judgment is granted in the context of statutory interpretation, there are no material issues of fact in dispute and the sole issue before us is a question of law as to the correct interpretation of the statute at issue. GameStop, Inc. v. St. Mary Parish Sales and Use Tax Dep't, 14-0878 (La.App. 1 Cir. 3/19/15), 166 So.3d 1090, 1094, writ denied. 2015-0783 (La. 6/1/15), 171 So.3d 929.

Relevant hereto, Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:2256, applicable to the FRS, provides that "[a]ny member who has completed twenty or more years of creditable service and who leaves employment covered by this system before attaining age fifty ... may select, at any time prior to thirty days before the date that benefits are scheduled to commence to the member, any optional retirement allowance as provided for in R.S. 11:2259."1 LSA-R.S. 11:2256A(3). Further, "within the same time period allowed above [i.e., thirty days before the date that benefits are scheduled to commence to the member], the member may change the option selected or the beneficiary of the option selected." LSA-R.S. 11:2256A(3).

On appeal, Mr. Langsford contends that the trial court erred in concluding that he could not delete Ms. DaSilviera as beneficiary. Mr. Langsford contends that no provision found in either LSA-R.S. 11:2256 or 11:2259 indicates that the optional *731retirement allowance is "irrevocable." Rather, Mr. Langsford asserts that those statutes provide a procedure for the election of the "optional allowance," but the election itself is completely voluntary on the part of the member-beneficiary.

Mr. Langsford notes that his right to a pension benefit is a property right. See Frazier v. Harper, 600 So.2d 59, 62 (La. 1992). Mr. Langsford also notes that as a statewide retirement system, membership in the FRS constitutes a contractual relationship between employee and employer. LSA-Const. art. 10, § 29 (B). Mr. Langsford avers that viewed simply as a "contract," the FRS's insistence on "irrevocability" must fail because the express terms of the contract do not call for same. Mr. Langsford also urges that there is no administrative law or rule mandating irrevocability. Mr. Langsford claims that the FRS's position on the "irrevocability" of the beneficiary election in this case is based solely upon a practice grounded in convenience and where, as here, the requested deletion of a beneficiary would have no actuarial effect upon the system, the FRS's refusal to permit the deletion of the beneficiary consenting to same is an unwarranted impingement on a pensioner's property rights.2

Moreover, Mr. Langsford asserts that the member-beneficiary selection clause is a donation inter vivos. As such, Mr. Langsford avers that it can be revoked because of non-fulfillment of a condition, i.e. the failure of Mr. Langsford and Ms. DaSilviera to get married. See LSA-C.C. art. 1556.3 Mr. Langsford contends that while it would not be reasonable for the FRS to inquire into the motivating factors of every beneficiary election, it is reasonable to insist that it provide a rational method to correct elections made under error of fact or law. He further points out that LSA-R.S. 11:2256.1 permits the removal of an ex-spouse beneficiary.

The interpretation of any statutory provision starts with the language of the statute itself. Oubre v. Louisiana Citizens Fair Plan, 11-0097 (La. 12/16/11), 79 So.3d 987, 997.

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247 So. 3d 728, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/langsford-v-firefighters-ret-sys-lactapp-2018.