On November 21, 2014, Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John Belz issued an order (linked) finding Public Act 98-0599, a pension reduction law that was enacted in December 2013, unconstitutional and void in its entirety. Working with attorneys representing various other plaintiff groups, TDR partners Gino L. DiVito, John M. Fitzgerald, Brian C. Haussmann, and John J. Barber, and TDR associate Uri B. Abt successfully represented retired Illinois teachers and retired and active Illinois school administrators in that litigation. “This is precisely the type of complex constitutional litigation in which our firm excels,” said TDR name partner Gino L. DiVito, “and we couldn’t be happier with the result.”
TDR partner John Fitzgerald was quoted in Crain’s Chicago Business on November 21, 2014 as observing that Judge Belz’s decision was “exactly the result that drafters of the Illinois constitution intended: that people could rely on their pensions without fear of them being reduced.”
Because the Attorney General has initiated an appeal of the trial court’s ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court, TDR will continue to represent its clients in this case before the Illinois Supreme Court.