MEMBER ADVISEMENT
August 23, 2007
The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs ("AOCDS") has retained Morrison & Foerster LLP, a prominent California litigation firm, to represent its members and their families in a potential dispute regarding the Orange County Board of Supervisors' attempt to cut back a retirement benefit to deputy sheriffs and district attorney investigators in 2001.
Wayne Quint, President of the AOCDS, said "We retained Morrison & Foerster because of their record of success in litigation, as well as their extensive experience in constitutional and pension-related issues. We would hate to see the Board of Supervisors renege on their agreement with us, but if they do, we have a duty to make sure that our members and their families, especially the widows and orphans of those who fallen in the line of duty, have the most qualified firm to represent them."
According to Joe Wyatt, Senior of Counsel at Morrison & Foerster and a public pension expert, "the benefits at issue were earned by and negotiated between AOCDS and the county over five years ago. The law simply doesn't allow the county to break its contract because some supervisors have a change of heart. California constitutional law specially protects public pension benefits from this sort of afterthought."
Mr. Wyatt has advised public employee retirement systems since 1987, including County Employee Retirement Systems of Los Angeles, Contra Costa, and Kern counties, the University of California Retirement System, and the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). He is the author of Trust Administration and Taxation, a 4-volume text published by LexisNexis/Matthew Bender, and the only trust treatise covering public retirement systems."
We hope to meet with the county supervisors in the next month or so to discuss the facts and legal precedent surrounding the modification and approval of the pension plan,"said Jim Bennett, a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster. "I'm confident that, after the supervisors review all the facts and examine the law, they will not want to waste millions of dollars of taxpayers' money, as well as the court's resources on litigation."
About Morrison & Foerster
With more than one thousand lawyers in eighteen offices around the world, Morrison & Foerster provides clients comprehensive, global legal services in business and litigation. The firm was recently named to the National Law Journal's annual list of the top ten defense litigation law firms in the United States and was cited as having one of the country's top litigation practices by The American Lawyer in 2004. In addition, Morrison & Foerster has been ranked as one of the nation's top 20 law firms by The American Lawyer for the past three years.
For further information, please contact: Mike Carre at (714) 285-2800.
Other sources for information include: James Bennett at (415) 268-7000
Briefing is over.
The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs ("AOCDS") has retained Morrison & Foerster LLP, a prominent California litigation firm, to represent its members and their families in a potential dispute regarding the Orange County Board of Supervisors' attempt to cut back a retirement benefit to deputy sheriffs and district attorney investigators in 2001.
Wayne Quint, President of the AOCDS, said "We retained Morrison & Foerster because of their record of success in litigation, as well as their extensive experience in constitutional and pension-related issues. We would hate to see the Board of Supervisors renege on their agreement with us, but if they do, we have a duty to make sure that our members and their families, especially the widows and orphans of those who fallen in the line of duty, have the most qualified firm to represent them."
According to Joe Wyatt, Senior of Counsel at Morrison & Foerster and a public pension expert, "the benefits at issue were earned by and negotiated between AOCDS and the county over five years ago. The law simply doesn't allow the county to break its contract because some supervisors have a change of heart. California constitutional law specially protects public pension benefits from this sort of afterthought."
Mr. Wyatt has advised public employee retirement systems since 1987, including County Employee Retirement Systems of Los Angeles, Contra Costa, and Kern counties, the University of California Retirement System, and the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). He is the author of Trust Administration and Taxation, a 4-volume text published by LexisNexis/Matthew Bender, and the only trust treatise covering public retirement systems."
We hope to meet with the county supervisors in the next month or so to discuss the facts and legal precedent surrounding the modification and approval of the pension plan,"said Jim Bennett, a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster. "I'm confident that, after the supervisors review all the facts and examine the law, they will not want to waste millions of dollars of taxpayers' money, as well as the court's resources on litigation."
About Morrison & Foerster
With more than one thousand lawyers in eighteen offices around the world, Morrison & Foerster provides clients comprehensive, global legal services in business and litigation. The firm was recently named to the National Law Journal's annual list of the top ten defense litigation law firms in the United States and was cited as having one of the country's top litigation practices by The American Lawyer in 2004. In addition, Morrison & Foerster has been ranked as one of the nation's top 20 law firms by The American Lawyer for the past three years.
For further information, please contact: Mike Carre at (714) 285-2800.
Other sources for information include: James Bennett at (415) 268-7000
Briefing is over.
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