Today the California Supreme Court granted review of the case Hipsher v. Los Angeles County Employees' Retirement Association et al.

This is the fifth pension case the Court has accepted jurisdiction over, including two of our cases: MAPE et al. v. MCERA et al. and CAL FIRE Local 2881 et al. v. CalPERS et al.  We are currently fully briefed in our CAL FIRE Local 2881 et al. v. CalPERS et al. case and awaiting a date for oral argument.

The Hipsher case raises the question of whether the Legislature violates the Constitution when it adds a new, previously-unstated requirement onto already vested pension rights (here, a job-related-felony forfeiture provision).  In the Court's announcement taking the case, it ordered that briefing be deferred until after its decision in Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs' Association et al. v. Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association et al. (briefing on which finishes later this year).

This all points to the Court ramping up to decide important pension-law questions in the near future, and we will provide you updates and analysis as they come.

If you have any questions about this alert, please contact Gregg Adam or Yonatan Moskowitz.