City Attorney Mike Aguirre said today that he asked the California Supreme Court to hear his hallmark pension case, which was sliced in its scope by a local judge in December and rejected by the appeals court last week.
In the interim, the council’s agenda has not included a discussion about the lawsuit, which seeks to undo about $900 million worth of employee pension benefits, making it likely that Aguirre did not consult with the council about his petition to the state Supreme Court. Aguirre claims he can file lawsuits independent of the council; several council members disagree.
In the lawsuit, Aguirre alleges that several pension trustees had a conflict of interest when they voted to allow the city relief from its annual pension bill because they, like other city workers, received enhanced benefits because of it. He also argues that the benefits were illegal because the debt the created for the city was too large to not be approved by voters.