Opinion ID: 2065544
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Federal Court Litigation

Text: In 1998, while the consent decree controversies were pending in state court, a number of retired police officers and firefighters, some but not all of whom are involved in the instant litigation, commenced suit in federal court. Picard v. Members of the Employee Retirement Board of Providence, 275 F.3d 139, 142 (1st Cir.2001). They alleged numerous constitutional violations stemming from (1) the council's decision to adopt Ordinance No. 1994-1, which terminated the COLA provisions of the consent decree, and (2) the council's failure to provide plaintiffs with the COLA benefits included in the fire CBA in effect from 1992 through 1995 and the police CBA in effect from 1993 through 1995, neither of which was ratified by the council. Picard, 1999 WL 814274, No. 98-40L, slip op. at 5. The District Court initially entered summary judgment against plaintiffs on their CBA-based claims only pursuant to this Court's decision in Cianci, but it declined to rule on the merits of the claims arising from the consent decree. Picard, 275 F.3d at 143. The District Court was concerned that, pursuant to the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, [6] it might not have jurisdiction because a state superior court already had found that the consent decree applied only to those employees who retired on or before December 18, 1991. Id. at 142-43. The District Court later granted defendants' motion to dismiss the remaining consent decree claims based on lack of standing, lack of subject matter jurisdiction, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. [7] Id. at 143. In December 2001, the Circuit Court affirmed the District Court's ruling and declined to exercise jurisdiction because the issue of whether the consent decree extended to police officers and firefighters who retired after January 1994 was squarely addressed when the parties were before this Court in Mansolillo II; therefore, the litigation constituted an improper attempt to seek federal review of a final state court judgment. Picard, 275 F.3d at 145. In a last-ditch effort to resolve the COLA issue in federal court and reap the benefits of the consent decree, Local 799 of the IAFF (Local 799) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire seeking declaratory relief against the city. Local 799 of the International Association of Firefighters, AFL-CIO v. City of Providence, No. 02-449-B, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1536 (D.N.H. Jan. 31, 2003) ( Local 799 ). In this complaint, Local 799 alleged that the city violated its members' rights under the United States Constitution's Contract Clause, U.S. Const. Art. I, § 10, cl. 1, when it adopted ordinances reducing the amount of the firefighters' COLA below the 5 percent compounded adjustment that had been bargained for and included in various CBAs, most importantly the 1990-92 fire CBA. Local 799, at . The federal district court in New Hampshire ruled that, although Local 799 based its challenge primarily on the 1990-92 fire CBA  whereas the firefighter plaintiffs in Picard based their challenge on the consent decree and the 1992-95 fire CBA  both cases turned on the same set of operative facts, rendering Local 799's claims barred by the doctrine of claim preclusion. Id. at . Interestingly, neither group of plaintiffs involved in the federal litigation argued that the retired firefighters' COLA benefits should be governed by the 1991 ordinance in place at the time of their retirement, Ordinance 1991-5. Instead, the firefighters waited until it was clear that they would not be covered by the consent decree  under which they would receive a 6 percent compounded COLA  to file the instant suit, which, if decided favorably, would award them a 5 percent compounded COLA as required by Ordinance 1991-5. D