Krolikowski v. San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System

Appellants Vincent Krolikowski and Connie Van Putten were former employees of the City of San Diego (the City) and members of the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System (SDCERS) who received monthly pension payments from SDCERS, the administrator of the City's pension plan. Krolikowski and Van Putten separately filed lawsuits against SDCERS after SDCERS discovered an error in calculating their monthly pension benefits and took action to recoup the past overpayments. In their consolidated lawsuits, Krolikowski and Van Putten claimed conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, writ of mandate and declaratory relief, all of which challenged SDCERS's ability to implement a recoupment procedure to collect the overpayments from Krolikowski and Van Putten. After a bench trial, the trial court entered judgment in favor of SDCERS. Krolikowski and Van Putten argued on appeal the trial court erred in: (1) sustaining SDCERS's demurrer to the conversion and breach of fiduciary duty causes of action; and (2) finding in favor of SDCERS after conducting a bench trial on the remaining causes of action for writ of mandate and declaratory relief. The Court of Appeal found no merit to these arguments and affirmed the trial court's judgment. View "Krolikowski v. San Diego City Employees' Retirement System" on Justia Law