City of Miami Firefighters' & Police Officers' Retirement Trust & Plan v. Castro
City of Miami pension plan participants sued the retirement boards and trustees for breach of contract, alleging that board staff gave incorrect advice about the effect of a pending 'financial urgency' ordinance, causing them to prematurely retire or enter DROP. The Third District reversed the trial court's determination that the Pension Defendants were not entitled to sovereign immunity, holding that the pension ordinances' general duty to 'observe and evaluate the performance of any pension administrator' does not create an express contractual duty to guarantee the accuracy of advice given to beneficiaries about pending legislation.
Key facts
- City of Miami pension plan participants sued the retirement boards and trustees, alleging that board staff provided incorrect advice about a pending 'financial urgency' ordinance, causing them to prematurely retire or enter DROP programs.
- The trial court determined that the Pension Defendants were not entitled to sovereign immunity based on the pension ordinances' general duty language to 'observe and evaluate' pension administrator performance.
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Why it matters
The opinion gives defense counsel for municipalities a clean statement that the contractual waiver of sovereign immunity is confined to the four corners of express contractual duties, and that broad supervisory or… — full analysis with a trial
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