No. 22-475

Binyamin I. Efreom, et al. v. Daniel McKee, Governor of Rhode Island, et al.

Lower Court: First Circuit
Docketed: 2022-11-18
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: civil-rights contract-rights due-process fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment pension-reform procedural-due-process rooker-feldman rooker-feldman-doctrine section-1983 taking-without-compensation takings
Key Terms:
ERISA SocialSecurity DueProcess ClassAction JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2023-01-06
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether Petitioners' procedural due-process, takings, contract-rights were violated by deprivation of federal-remedy

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW The Petitioners brought their § 1983 suit due to the deprivation of their COLA! benefits relative to their state and municipal pensions which ensued under the 2015 Rhode Island State and Municipal Pension Reform legislation. The Petitioners had previously sued in a State lawsuit challenging the enactment of the 2012 state and municipal employee pensions reforms. That litigation resulted in a proposed settlement agreement, which both the federal District and Circuit Court acknowledge petitioners did not agree with. Petitioners were assured they would not be forced to agree to the Settlement Agreement and could as other groups did, continue with their litigation. A class action was filed by agreement of the Respondents and other pensioner groups, not Petitioners, where in the Rhode Island Superior Court irrespective of these assurances, the Superior Court subsumed the Petitioners into a binding class depriving them of their rights in derogation of the due process clause. The First Circuit viewed the foregoing factors as nothing more than unsatisfied state court litigants seeking to litigate the State Judgement in Federal Court holding the same barred by the Rooker-Feldman Doctrine. 1.) Whether Petitioners’ procedural due process right and rights to sue for a taking without just compensation under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and contract ! Petitioners will refer to their cost of living adjustment to their pension as “COLA.” ii QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW —Continued rights pursuant to Article 1 section 10 thereof, were violated by a deprivation of federal remedy, where there is a sharp difference and split between the Circuits as to the application of the Rooker-Feldman Doctrine, exhorting correction by this Court, and the First Circuit nevertheless upheld denial of the federal cause of action, where Petitioners assert rights to redress of their of their continuing sufferance of damages, based on legislation enacted by cooperation of the three branches of Rhode Island State Government?

Docket Entries

2023-01-09
Petition DENIED.
2022-12-07
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/6/2023.
2022-12-02
Waiver of right of respondent Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island, by and through Frank Karpinski, its Executive Director to respond filed.
2022-12-02
Waiver of right of respondents Daniel J. McKee, in his capacity as Governor of the State of Rhode Island and Seth Magaziner, in his capacity as Chairperson of the Retirement Board to respond filed.
2022-11-16
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 19, 2022)

Attorneys

Binyamin Efreom, et al.
George Joseph WestGeorge J. West & Associates, Petitioner
George Joseph WestGeorge J. West & Associates, Petitioner
Daniel J. McKee, in his capacity as Governor of the State of Rhode Island and Seth Magaziner, in his capacity as Chairperson of the Retirement Board
Michael W. FieldDepartment of Attorney General, Respondent
Michael W. FieldDepartment of Attorney General, Respondent
Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island, by and through Frank Karpinski, its Executive Director
Nicole J. BenjaminAdler Pollock & Sheehan P.C., Respondent
Nicole J. BenjaminAdler Pollock & Sheehan P.C., Respondent