City Attorney Mike Aguirre just released his statement on the Barton ruling. Here’s an excerpt:
“A well-meaning court has allowed technicalities to negate the ability of the law to remediate this debt. The decision is a mistake,” said City Attorney Michael Aguirre.
City Attorney Aguirre will ask Judge Barton to expedite entry of his final statement of decision, which will allow the City Attorney to file a petition for a peremptory writ of mandate with the 4th District Court of Appeal to overturn the Judge’s ruling.
In his decision, Judge Barton said, “previous inconsistent positions taken by the City before filing of the cross-complaint raise significant obstacles to the City’s current effort to undo the remaining pension benefits.” In other words, the City never raised objections to the legality of the pension benefits in previous court actions known as the Corbett and Gleason settlements.
“This is not a proud moment for any City official who participated in the very decisions that are now being deemed as obstacles by Judge Barton,” remarked Aguirre. “There is nothing to celebrate in saddling the public with this debt.”