Minnesota judge Ok’s discovery in pension suit

Watchdog reports:

A Minnesota court deferred judgment Wednesday on a lawsuit challenging legislation limiting benefit increases for retirees currently drawing checks.

Stephen Pincus, an attorney representing retirees in Minnesota, Colorado and South Dakota, said plaintiffs need internal state documents and state employee depositions to determine if officials had explored all policy options available to shore up pensions, such as increasing contributions or reducing benefits of future hires.

“From our point of view there is no reason to rush to have this case decided,” Pincus said. “We had no idea the state wanted to have the entire case decided up front.”

While many states — including sixteen this year alone — have overhauled pensions in the wake of the stock market crash, only Minnesota, Colorado and South Dakota passed legislation that trimmed the cost of living adjustments (COLA) for current recipients.

The Minnesota case, first on the docket and involving an estimated $1 billion in future allocations, has been cited as a possible bellwether for cash-strapped states struggling to find immediate means to shore up pension systems that were in trouble even before investment values plunged.

So , we will have judges( government workers) determining the pension payouts of government workers. No easy conflict of interest here.