Opinion ID: 2172904
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Immediacy of Dombrowski's Injury

Text: Alternatively, the city argues that, if appellee's interest is sufficiently distinct, his injury is not sufficiently immediate to sustain an action in his name. [16] Although much of what has already been said is sufficient to demonstrate that this contention lacks merit, it does deserve brief treatment. Dombrowski's complaint, see footnote 1, supra, was premised upon his belief that the city's contributions to its retirement fund were insufficient to keep it on an actuarially sound basis. As the testimony below disclosed, the present and past practices had placed the system on an actuarially unsound basis and, if continued, the unsoundness would progressively increase. In essence, then, Dombrowski was attempting to assure himself and all other members of the Philadelphia municipal retirement system that sufficient funds would be present to meet his and others' retirement payments. [17] Part of his contract with the city was a promise made by the city, in its Home Rule Charter, that the retirement system would be actuarially sound. The court below found, a finding not here disputed, that the city had not kept its promise. Dombrowski is thus suffering a present impairment of his contractual rights and thus an immediate injury. Neither of the two authorities advanced by appellants are contrary to this conclusion. In Commonwealth ex rel. McLaughlin v. Erie County, 375 Pa. 344, 100 A. 2d 601 (1953) a mandamus action was brought to compel Erie County to allocate to the City of Erie a portion of the tax revenues it received from the Commonwealth under a statute requiring that these funds be distributed to local governmental units for bridge and highway purposes. We held that the city had not complied with certain conditions in the statute attaching before it had a right to the funds, and thus it did not have an immediate, legal right to the funds. It is not disputed that Dombrowski has complied with all the requirements which condition his right to receive retirement benefits and, as discussed above, he has an immediate, legal (and contractual) right to an actuarially sound pension system. The city relies most heavily upon Geary v. Allegheny County Retirement Board, 426 Pa. 254, 231 A. 2d 743 (1967). Geary called into question the constitutionality of an act which permitted Allegheny County policemen to retire at 55 instead of the age previously established (60). The basis of this constitutional challenge was that the reduction in the retirement age decreased the actuarial soundness of the retirement fund and therefore, under the vested rights and contract cases, the municipality's contracts with the employees were unconstitutionally impaired. Without discussing standing, we stated (supra at 259, 231 A. 2d at 746): [T]he fact that the Court [in Harvey v. Allegheny County Retirement Board ] concluded that an enhancement of the actuarial soundness of a fund was sufficient to prevent an increase in the age or length-of-service requirement for employees not yet eligible from being unconstitutional does not mean . . . that a decrease in actuarial soundness is by itself sufficient to constitute a deprivation of vested rights or an impairment of contractual rights. Thus, bearing in mind the strong presumption in favor of the constitutionality of legislation [citation omitted], we conclude that a legislative alteration of retirement laws whose only adverse effect on participants . . . is to increase a theoretical possibility that payments to them will not be met is not a sufficiently concrete detriment to constitute a violation of constitutional guarantees. (Emphasis supplied.) Geary, on its face, is distinguishable on three separate grounds. First, Dombrowski is not protesting a legislative alteration of his pension system but rather a failure of the city to follow the plan it enacted and, for these purposes, has never amended. Second, there is nothing theoretical or possible about Dombrowsky's injury  the court below found that the city's retirement system was actually and presently unsound. Third, Dombrowski is not insisting that his constitutional right prohibiting the impairment of contracts has been violated by a legislative change but, simply, that the city is not presently fulfilling its contractual obligations. Appellants lastly advance as justification for their belief that appellee's injury is not sufficiently immediate § 116.1 of the Municipal Retirement System Ordinance which provides that the obligations of the pension fund shall be obligations of the City of Philadelphia. Although the relevance of this provision is not immediately apparent, we assume that the city is suggesting that Dombrowski, if his retirement benefits are not received, can sue the city, enter judgment and execute upon city property. However, his ability to do so, in our view, does not make his injury less immediate for the fact that the obligations of the retirement system are the obligations of the city does not relieve the city of its duty to maintain its system on an actuarially sound basis. It is Dombrowski's contractual relationship with the city that is impaired by the city's failure to comply with its own Home Rule Charter and this immediate impairment supports his standing; that appellee might be able through judgment and execution to obtain the funds due him in 1972 does not prevent him from asserting in 1968 a present impairment of contractual rights. We conclude that Dombrowski's suit was properly brought in his individual capacity as a member of the Philadelphia municipal retirement system. [18]