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Attorney General’s office: Dawson suit seeks to invalidate House Bill 2034; committee told to monitor litigation
Summary
Kate Adams, presenting the AG office report, told the executive committee that a recently filed class action (the Dawson case) seeks to invalidate House Bill 2034 and raises federal and state constitutional claims; she said the complaint is unclear which agencies are implicated, though the Department of Retirement Systems and Director Leathers are named. The committee agreed to monthly briefings as the matter develops.
Kate Adams, presenting the attorney general office report to the executive committee, said a newly filed class action — referred to as the Dawson case — “seeks to invalidate the recently passed, gross 2nd substitute House Bill 2034,” and alleges violations of both the federal and state constitutions. Adams told the committee the pleading is imprecise about which state agencies will be pulled into the litigation, though the Department of Retirement Systems and Director Leathers are expressly named.
Adams said the complaint asserts that a pension-board study of medical-benefit liability “should be… struck down as unlawful,” but that the filing does not present a clear legal theory on that point and does not include that relief in its request. She warned the committee the pleadings are “not particularly clear” and that the AG’s office will monitor how the complaint and plaintiffs’ requests develop before predicting formal involvement.
Adams also updated the committee on two other matters the office has been tracking. She described the Dolan litigation as largely resolved and recapped the Fowler matter, where the trial court issued an oral ruling favorable to the plaintiffs on methods of calculating interest and on whether the state must disgorge gains earned during the interim; Adams said the trial court’s written ruling is pending and noted the matter has been characterized in the record as involving on the order of $130,000,000 in gains the state earned on withheld funds.
The committee asked procedural questions about venue and timing; Adams said she expected discovery to ramp up in “two or three months,” that plaintiffs may seek injunctive relief, and that the AG’s office will aim to provide monthly updates to the committee so members can be informed if the committee might be recruited into the litigation in some way.
The committee did not take any formal action on the litigation at the meeting but asked staff to provide ongoing reports as the case develops.
