SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- A Bend attorney has filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate two Oregon Supreme Court decisions that have limited efforts to cut pension benefits for public employees.
Daniel C. Re argues in a brief filed last week in the state Court of Appeals that the judges who decided the cases had a conflict of interest because they would eventually receive pensions from the Public Employee Retirement System.
One decision overturned a 1994 ballot measure that limited public pension benefits. The other said the state can't roll back benefits already promised to retirees. The decisions have limited the options available to state lawmakers who want to spend less on retirement benefits for public employees at a time when tax revenue is considerably constrained.
"It's really in the benefit of everyone to ensure that we're treated fairly and that our right primarily to independent judges is maintained," Re said.
In deciding the earlier cases, the Supreme Court noted that the judges could have a financial interest in their decision but found that a "rule of necessity" allowed them to handle the case. No impartial panel of judges could be seated because state law requires nearly all Oregon judges to be part of PERS, the court found.
Re's legal challenge argues that the court was wrong because judges appointed at age 70 or older are not required to join PERS. The Supreme Court could have appointed older lawyers as temporary judges to a trial court, and then appointed them as temporary Supreme Court justices for the purposes of handling a PERS case, he argues.
Furthermore, he argues, the state and U.S. constitutions guarantee a right to a fair hearing from an impartial judge.
The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals have both denied requests by Re to have his lawsuit heard by judges who are not members of PERS.
Re said the lawsuit is being funded by a nonprofit organization he created. The organization is not required to reveal its donors, and Re declined to name them.
"We certainly will review it carefully and our lawyers will respond to it within the schedule set by the Court of Appeals," said Joe O'Leary, policy director for PERS.
