Puckett v. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government

524 S.W.3d 467, 2016 WL 6892583, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 196
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedNovember 23, 2016
DocketNO. 2015-CA-000752-MR
StatusPublished

This text of 524 S.W.3d 467 (Puckett v. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Puckett v. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, 524 S.W.3d 467, 2016 WL 6892583, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 196 (Ky. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

KRAMER, CHIEF JUDGE:

Appellants Tommy Puckett and Mario Russo are members of the Lexington-Fay-ette Urban County Government Policemen’s and Firefighter’s Retirement Fund (“Fund”). On November 5, 2013, they filed an action pursuant to Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS). 67A.620, alleging the appel-lee, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG), had failed to make its mandated 2011 contribution to the Fund. Their suit sought a court order compelling LFUCG, pursuant to the version of KRS 67A.520 in existence in 2011, to immediately make the full amount of that contribution along with interest at the rate which would have been earned had that sum been invested by the Fund.

LFUCG answered, asserting as an affirmative defense that it actually had “made payments to the Fund which more than offset the alleged deficiency in the 2011 contribution, and which were intended to cover that deficiency.” Alternatively, it asserted that even if it had failed to make, its 2011 contribution, it was a moot point be[468]*468cause the appellants could not compel it to make that payment. As to why, LFUCG argued the current version of KRS 67A.520 entitled it to “subsume” whatever it had failed to contribute in 2011 into the “total unfunded actuarially accrued liability of the fund” (an aspect of the Fund described in KRS 67A.520(2) and discussed further below) and essentially pay whatever it owed over the course of the next 30 years.

LFUCG subsequently moved for summary judgment on the basis of its latter argument. The circuit court ultimately entered summary judgment in favor of LFUCG on that basis. This appeal followed. Upon review, we reverse and remand.

Summary judgment serves to terminate litigation where “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, stipulations, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Kentucky Rule of Civil Procedure (CR) 56.03. Summary judgment should be granted only if it appears impossible that the nonmoving party will be able to produce evidence at trial warranting a judgment in his favor. Steelvest, Inc. v. Scansteel Service Center, Inc., 807 S.W.2d 476 (Ky. 1991). Summary judgment “is only proper where the mov-ant shows that the adverse party could not prevail under any circumstances.” Id. at 480 (citing Paintsville Hosp. Co. v. Rose, 683 S.W.2d 255 (Ky. 1985)).

On appeal, we must consider whether the circuit court correctly determined that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that the moving party was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Scifres v. Kraft, 916 S.W.2d 779 (Ky. App. 1996). Because summary judgment involves only questions of law and not the resolution of disputed material facts, an appellate court does not defer to the circuit court’s decision. Goldsmith v. Allied Building Components, Inc., 833 S.W.2d 378 (Ky. 1992). Likewise, we review the circuit court’s interpretations of law de novo. Cumberland Valley Contrs., Inc. v. Bell County Coal Corp., 238 S.W.3d 644, 647 (Ky. 2007).

The appellants contend LFUCG was required to make its full 2011 contribution immediately, and that the circuit court erred by determining, to the contrary, that the current version of KRS 67A.520 permitted LFUCG to pay it later by subsuming whatever that contribution was, or whatever remained of it, into the “total unfunded actuarially accrued liability of the fund.” We agree the circuit court erred. As an aside, much of the appellants’ arguments regarding why the circuit court erred focus upon whether the current version of KRS 67A.520 was intended to have retroactive effect. But, the dispositive issue is whether any version of KRS 67A.520 has ever permitted LFUCG to miss a contribution to the fund and, as it successfully argued below, simply add that unpaid amount to the growing unfunded liability.

We begin with a discussion of what the Fund is, and how the unfunded liability of the Fund came into being. To paraphrase Gurnee v. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Gov't, 6 S.W.3d 852 (Ky. App. 1999), the General Assembly intended to create a statutory scheme that would enable urban-county governments to encourage qualified personnel to enter and remain in essential service positions with the police and fire departments. The General Assembly also intended that the pension funds created under this statutory scheme would be actuarially sound, that is, funded at a level sufficient to provide future benefits. Id. at 857. To that end, the prior versions of KRS 67A.560 demonstrated that the General Assembly contemplated [469]*469LFUCG would contribute an annual sum to the Fund which, when added to the contributions made by employees and other earnings of the Fund, would be sufficient to pay the current service cost—that is, the current value of the benefits being earned over the next year—and the interest on the unfunded past service liability. Id. at 857.1

However, when the Fund was established in 1974—and at least until 1999— LFUCG made only minimal contributions—contributions that were legally allowed, but less than what was recommended by the actuaries employed by the Fund’s Board of Trustees in order to adequately insure the fund’s soundness. Id. at 855. This, combined with the statute’s requirement that LFUCG pay only interest rather than any amount of principal on the unfunded liability, resulted in an ever-widening gap between what the Fund had and what the Fund would need to provide future benefits. In 1978, this unfunded liability was about $ 28 million. In 1993, it was $44 million. Id: at 855, n.4. The LFUCG also represented in its attachments to its motion for summary judgment, below, that the total unfunded actuarial accrued liability of the Fund in 2011 had grown to $ 257,781,662; and an estimated $ 296,806,-492 in 2012.

The first time the General Assembly passed legislation to address the principal [470]*470balance of the unfunded liability was when it amended KRS 67A.520 in 2013.

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Related

Steelvest, Inc. v. Scansteel Service Center, Inc.
807 S.W.2d 476 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1991)
Paintsville Hospital Co. v. Rose
683 S.W.2d 255 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1985)
Gurnee v. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government
6 S.W.3d 852 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1999)
Cumberland Valley Contractors, Inc. v. Bell County Coal Corp.
238 S.W.3d 644 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 2007)
Goldsmith v. Allied Building Components, Inc.
833 S.W.2d 378 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1992)
Scifres v. Kraft
916 S.W.2d 779 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
524 S.W.3d 467, 2016 WL 6892583, 2016 Ky. App. LEXIS 196, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/puckett-v-lexington-fayette-urban-county-government-kyctapp-2016.