Opinion ID: 773394
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: How the Retirement System Is Referred to in State Statutes

Text: 44 The Retirement System was formed under New York statute, now codified at Article 2 of N.Y. Retire. & Soc. Sec. Law §§ 2-119 (McKinney 1999 & Supp. 2001), and has the powers and privileges of a corporation, id. § 10. In Mancuso, we noted that the phrase public corporation is of little help in determining whether an entity is an arm of the state, and looked to New York case law for clarification. See 86 F.3d at 294. 45 The New York Court of Appeals has stated that the Retirement System is the kind of state instrumentality that is clothed with the sovereign immunity of the state. Glassman v. Glassman, 309 N.Y. 436, 440 (1956). Notwithstanding that the State Retirement System is a corporation, endowed with the powers and privileges that inhere to that kind of entity, Glassman said this fact had no effect on the agency's immunity. See id. at 441. Plaintiffs say this conclusion was dicta since the Retirement System was only an incidental party to the real controversy between a husband and wife over the wife's entitlement as creditor to reach funds deposited by the husband in the System. Id. at 442. Even granting that, still, New York's highest court tells us how New York courts view the Retirement System, and because plaintiffs point to no contrary authority, this factor favors granting immunity to the System. 46