Max
12-18-2002, 06:53 PM
Disabled cops and firemen lose fight over benefits
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG
Star-Ledger Staff
It was a battle that not even David Toma, the retired Newark police detective whose heroics inspired two television series, could win.
Yesterday, a state appeals court dismissed Toma's lawsuit seeking better benefits for himself and 792 other police and firefighters who were injured in the line of duty and retired on disability pensions before April 1, 1991. He contended they were unfairly and unconstitutionally left out of a 1998 law that increased disability pensions for those retiring on or after that date.
But a three-judge appeals court unanimously ruled the Legislature could limit eligibility for the enhanced pension benefits to save the state money.
Robert Brown, a lawyer and retired Old Bridge police officer who joined Toma in bringing the lawsuit, said he will not ask the state Supreme Court to take the case. Instead, Brown said he hopes state lawmakers will take up the cause of police officers who retired on disability before 1991.
"These are the individuals who were shot, stabbed, hit by cars in the line of duty. We've been totally forgotten. We're living on poverty pensions," Brown said. "I'm an attorney, but if I had to live on my pension -- it's not going to happen."
Toma, who was shot and stabbed before retiring on a disability pension from the Newark police force in 1976, inspired the television dramas "Toma" and "Baretta." He has spent much of his new career as a motivational speaker warning youngsters about the dangers of drugs. A call to his office was not returned.
Brown, wounded in a 1981 shoot-out, said he still carries the bullets in his shoulder and they set off a metal detector at the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton when he went there to argue the appeal last month.
He contended the Legislature made an "arbitrary distinction" when it passed a more generous method of calculating pensions for members of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System who retired after April 1, 1991, but not those who retired before that date. The new law allowed disability pensions to be calculated on the basis of an officer's final year of service rather than the year when the injury occurred, if that would provided higher benefits.
Brown argued that violated the guarantee of equal protection in the state and federal constitutions.
It was an uphill legal battle for Brown and Toma. Especially in such areas as benefits for public employees, courts traditionally accept the Legislature's decisions so long as they have a "rational basis."
"A court will not second-guess the Legislature's policy decisions regarding the intractable economic, social and philosophical problems presented by employee pension plans," Appellate Division Judge Michael Winkelstein wrote.
"In the interests of preserving the state's economic resources, the Legislature may set limits on the social benefits it confers," Winkelstein added. "By limiting the number of eligible PFRS members to those who retired on accidental disability pension on or after the April 1, 1991, cutoff date, the Legislature was acting well within its constitutional authority."
Appellate Division Judges Stephen Skillman and Mary Catherine Cuff joined Winkelstein's opinion.
Brown said if the 793 officers who retired on disability before 1991 got the benefits of the 1998 law, some would see their pensions increase "from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand dollars" while others would get no increase. He urged those retirees to lobby their state lawmakers.
"We may not get a lot of money out of this, but at least we wouldn't be forgotten," Brown said. "All we're asking for is equal billing."
Robert Schwaneberg covers legal issues. He can be reached at rschwaneberg@starledger.com or (609) 989-0324.
Copyright 2002 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG
Star-Ledger Staff
It was a battle that not even David Toma, the retired Newark police detective whose heroics inspired two television series, could win.
Yesterday, a state appeals court dismissed Toma's lawsuit seeking better benefits for himself and 792 other police and firefighters who were injured in the line of duty and retired on disability pensions before April 1, 1991. He contended they were unfairly and unconstitutionally left out of a 1998 law that increased disability pensions for those retiring on or after that date.
But a three-judge appeals court unanimously ruled the Legislature could limit eligibility for the enhanced pension benefits to save the state money.
Robert Brown, a lawyer and retired Old Bridge police officer who joined Toma in bringing the lawsuit, said he will not ask the state Supreme Court to take the case. Instead, Brown said he hopes state lawmakers will take up the cause of police officers who retired on disability before 1991.
"These are the individuals who were shot, stabbed, hit by cars in the line of duty. We've been totally forgotten. We're living on poverty pensions," Brown said. "I'm an attorney, but if I had to live on my pension -- it's not going to happen."
Toma, who was shot and stabbed before retiring on a disability pension from the Newark police force in 1976, inspired the television dramas "Toma" and "Baretta." He has spent much of his new career as a motivational speaker warning youngsters about the dangers of drugs. A call to his office was not returned.
Brown, wounded in a 1981 shoot-out, said he still carries the bullets in his shoulder and they set off a metal detector at the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton when he went there to argue the appeal last month.
He contended the Legislature made an "arbitrary distinction" when it passed a more generous method of calculating pensions for members of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System who retired after April 1, 1991, but not those who retired before that date. The new law allowed disability pensions to be calculated on the basis of an officer's final year of service rather than the year when the injury occurred, if that would provided higher benefits.
Brown argued that violated the guarantee of equal protection in the state and federal constitutions.
It was an uphill legal battle for Brown and Toma. Especially in such areas as benefits for public employees, courts traditionally accept the Legislature's decisions so long as they have a "rational basis."
"A court will not second-guess the Legislature's policy decisions regarding the intractable economic, social and philosophical problems presented by employee pension plans," Appellate Division Judge Michael Winkelstein wrote.
"In the interests of preserving the state's economic resources, the Legislature may set limits on the social benefits it confers," Winkelstein added. "By limiting the number of eligible PFRS members to those who retired on accidental disability pension on or after the April 1, 1991, cutoff date, the Legislature was acting well within its constitutional authority."
Appellate Division Judges Stephen Skillman and Mary Catherine Cuff joined Winkelstein's opinion.
Brown said if the 793 officers who retired on disability before 1991 got the benefits of the 1998 law, some would see their pensions increase "from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand dollars" while others would get no increase. He urged those retirees to lobby their state lawmakers.
"We may not get a lot of money out of this, but at least we wouldn't be forgotten," Brown said. "All we're asking for is equal billing."
Robert Schwaneberg covers legal issues. He can be reached at rschwaneberg@starledger.com or (609) 989-0324.
Copyright 2002 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.