Stapleton v. Pub. Emps. Ret. Ass'n

412 P.3d 572
Colorado Court of Appeals·Decided August 1, 2013·No. Court of Appeals No. 12CA1023·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Opinion by JUDGE ROTHENBERG*

*574¶ 1 Plaintiff, Walker Stapleton, in his capacities as Colorado State Treasurer and as a trustee of defendant, Public Employees' Retirement Association (PERA), filed this lawsuit seeking unfettered access to PERA records. He appeals the district court's order upholding the decision of the PERA Board of Trustees (Board). Because we conclude Stapleton is not entitled to unfettered access to the PERA records that he requested, we affirm.

I. Background

¶ 2 PERA is a statutory pension plan available to most State of Colorado employees and many municipal, city, county, and school district employees. In re Marriage of Kelm, 912 P.2d 545, 548 (Colo.1996) ; Colo. Springs Fire Fighters Ass'n, Local 5 v. City of Colo. Springs, 784 P.2d 766, 770 (Colo.1989). It is an instrumentality of the state and is administered by a fifteen-member Board. See §§ 24-51-201(1); 24-51-202; 24-51-204; 24-51-205, C.R.S.2012; Colo. Springs Fire Fighters Ass'n, Local 5, 784 P.2d at 770 n. 8 ; Hurricane v. Pub. Emps' Ret. Ass'n, 780 P.2d 3, 4 (Colo.App.1989).

¶ 3 In 2010, Stapleton was elected as state treasurer. By statute, the state treasurer is one of the members of the Board. § 24-51-203(1)(a), C.R.S.2012.

¶ 4 In June 2011, Stapleton wrote a letter to the Board president, which provided, in relevant part:

As a PERA trustee and fiduciary, I must act in accordance with the care, skill, prudence and diligence in light of prevailing circumstances that a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with PERA matters would use. In order to carry out my role as fiduciary, I am entitled to complete access to all PERA records. Specifically, I am requesting the following records:
Individual records, not to include names or data relating to the specific identity of individual recipients, of the top 20% of PERA recipients based on annual pension benefits. Individual records provided, in the form of an electronic record, should include:
? Annual retirement benefit
? Year of Retirement
? Age of retirement
? Last five years of salary as a PERA contributor
? Zip code of Residence
? Employer Division....

¶ 5 The Board, including Stapleton, discussed the request and voted to seek advice from outside counsel. Outside counsel's written opinion stated, as relevant here, that "disclosure of member information pursuant to the terms of Treasurer Stapleton's request would likely result in a breach of fiduciary duty under PERA laws and the general principles of fiduciary conduct." Shortly thereafter, the Board voted to deny Stapleton's request.

¶ 6 In September 2011, Stapleton filed this action against PERA and the fourteen other PERA trustees in their official capacities. Stapleton sought "a declaration that PERA and Defendant trustees have breached their fiduciary duty by improperly and illegally denying the Treasurer access to the requested PERA records"; "a declaration that the Governance Manual Tab 17(14) is inconsistent with the fiduciary responsibility of PERA and Defendant trustees to the extent it impinges upon the Treasurer's fiduciary right and obligation to PERA's records"; "a writ of mandamus to give him full access to *575the requested records in a form which is useable"; "a mandatory injunction allowing inspection of the records in a form which is useable"; and "a declaration that he is entitled to have the records presented in a format that will allow him meaningful and timely access to such records."

¶ 7 PERA and the other trustees counterclaimed, seeking

a declaration that it is lawful for PERA to provide member benefit recipient information to a Trustee only when such Trustee has demonstrated that (i) the Trustee seeks the information so he or she can perform a valid, identified fiduciary function; (ii) there is a reasonable nexus between the information requested and the valid, identified fiduciary function, including that the information will in fact assist the Trustee in performing such fiduciary function; (iii) the expenses associated with providing the requested information are reasonable under the circumstances then prevailing; and (iv) safeguards can be imposed on the production of the information to preserve the confidentiality of member and benefit recipient information, which may include conditions on the circumstances under which the Trustee may review the information.

¶ 8 They also requested a declaration that Tab 17(14) of the Governance Manual is a valid and enforceable policy of PERA; and that the Treasurer is not entitled to the information sought because he has not satisfied the conditions set forth above.

¶ 9 Thereafter, the parties stipulated to the dismissal from the lawsuit of the fourteen individual trustees.

¶ 10 PERA moved for judgment on the pleadings contending Stapleton lacks standing in his capacity as Treasurer or as a PERA trustee to bring these claims. PERA originally maintained that the trust beneficiaries were the only parties with standing to enforce the trust responsibilities or to enjoin or obtain redress for a breach of trust. However, PERA has not pursued that argument and we therefore do not address it.

¶ 11 Stapleton then filed a C.R.C.P. 56(h) motion asking the court to determine: (1) "[w]hether the Treasurer must be granted unfettered access to the records of PERA"; and (2) "[w]hether the PERA board of trustees may unilaterally place conditions on its compliance with a co-trustee's request for information, and refuse to provide the information requested unless and until those conditions are satisfied."

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Stapleton v. Pub. Emps. Ret. Ass'n, 412 P.3d 572 (Colo. Ct. App. 2013).

412 P.3d 572 (Stapleton v. Pub. Emps. Ret. Ass'n) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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