Court Opinion

ID: 9561030
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:01:32.461623+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:29.518640
License: Public Domain

UDALL, Justice.
This appeal is by plaintiff who sued in the trial court for a declaratory judgment that, as to him and others similarly situated, the Legislative amendment in 1952 of the “Police Pension Act of 1937” was void and unconstitutional, and praying for the fixing of his pension under the terms of the first *386of the two legislative enactments. The trial court by its judgment upheld the applicability and constitutionality of the amendment. The instant appeal presents another facet to the problem determined in the recent case of Police Pension Board for City of Tucson v. Denney, 84 Ariz. 394, 330 P.2d 1. Incidentally, the present case was decided below and this appeal taken and briefs written by the parties prior to our decison in the Denney case.
The undisputed facts are these: Roy G. Robinson, plaintiff-appellant, retired from the Tucson city police force on July 16, 1953, after having completed more than twenty years of service. He claimed pension benefits under the terms of the Police Pension Act of 1937 (Ch. 40, L. ’37) which was enacted after he became a policeman. A 1952 amendment (infra) forms the basis for the allowance made to plaintiff by defendant-appellee Police Pension Board for City of Tucson. We shall hereafter refer to the parties as “plaintiff” and “the Board”.
The Board conceded plaintiff was entitled to a pension but computed the amount due under the provisions of Ch. 93, S.L.1952, the pertinent part of which reads:
“Computation of pension upon voluntary retirement or upon mandatory retirement; limitation
“A. A member of the police department whose membership began prior to July 1, 1952 and who serves the department twenty years in the aggregate may, upon application, be retired, and shall be paid during his lifetime a monthly pension equal to fifty per cent of the average monthly compensation received by him during the period of five years immediately prior to the date of application for retirement. * * * ” (Now appearing as A.R.S. § 9-925, subd. A),
whereas plaintiff contends it should have been computed upon the basis of the 1937 law (as amended in 1939), which appears as Section 16-1808(b), A.C.A.1939. The latter statute provides for fifty percent of the average monthly compensation received by him during the period of one year immediately prior to the date of application for retirement. Were this statute followed, plaintiff’s pension would be increased monthly by $22.54.
Plaintiff in his own behalf, and for others similarly situated, brought this action to have the statutes in question construed. Issues were framed and, there being no factual question to determine, the court granted the Board’s motion for summary judgment. It found that as a matter of law the 1952 amendment, supra, was neither void nor unconstitutional as to plaintiff or others similarly situated, and that hence the action of the Board was correct. After entry of judgment this appeal followed.
*387The single question presented by this appeal is whether it was constitutionally competent for the Legislature to change the basis of computing the amount of pension in a manner unfavorable to the plaintiff, especially at a time so near to the end of the period at which the plaintiff would become entitled to a pension and his right to it be earned and perfect. In different words the question is one as to whether in 1952, when the amendment took effect, the rights of plaintiff under the 1937 law providing for the pension were so perfect and vested that he could not be constitutionally deprived of them.
.  The underlying problem is the correct determination of the extent and nature of the plaintiff’s rights under the 1937 Act providing for the pension, and their status at the time of the amendment. If those rights rested upon contract and were vested it must be clear that plaintiff could not be deprived of them by the unilateral action of the Legislature. This is a firmly established principle in our Constitutional system.
In finding an answer to this question the following quotation from McQuillin, 3rd Ed., Vol. 3, Section 12.144, is helpful:
“According to the majority view, the law as to pensions existing at the time one enters into public service does not form a part of the contract of employment in the sense that the rights to the benefits which would accrue under the then existing law are vested property rights of which such person cannot be deprived by any subsequent act of the Legislature. * * * ”
This rule so clearly represents the holding of the majority, countrywide, that it may fairly be said that support for a contrary view may be cited from only three states, — California, of which Kern v. City of Long Beach, 29 Cal.2d 848, 179 P.2d 799, is typical; Washington, as represented by Bakenhus v. City of Seattle, 48 Wash.2d 695, 296 P.2d 536; and Georgia, as represented by Bender v. Anglin, 207 Ga. 108, 60 S.E.2d 756. A very complete annotation is appended to a pension case reported at 52 A.L.R.2d 437.
The California cases, quite numerous, were considered by the Nebraska court in Lickert v. City of Omaha, 144 Neb. 75, 12 N.W.2d 644, but the reasoning in them was rejected; and when the various and contradictory statements in the California cases are considered it must be conceded that their standing as authority is greatly weakened. The lack of certitude in the holdings of the California court is illustrated by the Kern case, supra [29 Cal.2d 848, 179 P.2d 803], in which the “vested right” theory was given effect, but the court also declared in the same case:
“Thus it appears, when the cases are considered together, that an em*388ployee may acquire a vested contractual right to a pension but that this right is not rigidly fixed by the specific terms of the legislation in effect during any particular period in which he serves. The statutory language is subject to the implied qualification that the governing body may make modifications and changes in the system. The employee does not have a right to any fixed or definite benefits, but only to a substantial or reasonable pension. There is no inconsistency therefore in holding that he has a vested right to a pension but that the amount, terms and conditions of the benefits may be altered.”
Under the facts of that case it may not be said that the result reached was other than just, the term of service lacking only 32 days before the officer would be entitled to be pensioned and retire, when the Charter was so amended as entirely to eliminate the pension. The court naturally and properly was astute to defeat the double dealings “That keep the word of promise to our ear, and break it to our hope,” but a very circuitous route was taken to support the result reached by the court.
When the terms “vested right” and “contingent interest” and “expectancy” are considered and their meaning ascertained it seems wholly incongruous to think of the right to a pension as being “vested” when in truth and in fact it is a right which can only have an existence if the uncertainties of the future bring it into being. The distinction appears in uncounted number of decisions, a reasonably fair example of them being Wirtz v. Nestos, 51 N.D. 603, 200 N.W. 524, 530:
“ '* * * the right is expectant, not vested, when it depends on the continued existence of the present condition of things until the happening of some future event; the right is contingent, not vested, when it comes into existence only on an event or condition which may not happen. * *
We submit that the 1952 amendment, on the precise point in question, is either unconstitutional on its face as to the plaintiff and others similarly situated, or it is not. There is no middle ground, hence the Act, as to them, should either be upheld or stricken down as unreasonable and arbitrary. It should be noted the Police Pension Act is applicable to all those cities of the State having a population of not less than twenty thousand inhabitants, and to those smaller incorporated cities or towns who by ordinance have created such a fund. A.R.S. § 9-912. Hence, the actuarial soundness of the fund in any given city, or whether the change is shown to be reasonably required there to preserve the integrity of the pension system, is not a matter for *389judicial inquiry, for the Legislature has plenary power to make reasonable modification and changes in the law which is, of course, operative on a statewide basis. In Sweesy v. Los Angeles County Peace Officers’ R. Board, 17 Cal.2d 356, 110 P.2d 37, 40, the court stated:
“ * * * Therefore, the question of what benefits would be warranted by either the individual or mass contributions to the fund is for the legislative body, and not for the pension board or the courts, whose respective functions in such cases are to administer and interpret the provisions of the law as written. * * * ”
It appears that the same contentions are raised, and the same authorities cited in the instant case as were urged and considered in the Denney case, supra. There we upheld the right of the Legislature to suspend pension payments during the period such a recipient was receiving a salary as an officer or employee of a political subdivision of the State; here we have a less drastic proviso of broadening the base on which pensions are to be computed. Both have to do with maintaining the integrity of the system and making the pension fund more sound. It is our view that in addition to the principles enunciated earlier in this opinion, the rationale of the Denney case is basically determinative of the instant appeal.
We do not believe it can be fairly said upon the facts before the court that any unreasonable disparagement of the plaintiff’s inchoate pension rights arises out of the amendatory legislation complained of. We hold that the judgment of the learned trial court accords both with reason and with the better authority.
Judgment affirmed.
PHELPS, C. J., and KELLY, J., concur.
Justice JOHNSON disqualified by reason of having been the trial judge. By stipulation of the parties, retired Judge HENRY C. KELLY was called to sit in his stead in accordance with Article 6, Section 26, Constitution of Arizona.