Underwood v. City of Chicago

Plaintiffs, multiple categories of City of Chicago retirees, filed suit against Defendant, the City of Chicago, to retain benefits that the City eliminated. Plaintiffs argued, in part, that settlement agreements they previously reached with Defendant that included health care coverage granted them lifetime coverage under the Illinois Constitution’s pension protection clause. Court properly granted Defendant’s motion to dismiss this claim, because Plaintiffs were not entitled to lifetime coverage. When the settlement agreements expired, the benefits granted therein also expired. The expiration date was embedded in the benefit itself, and the benefit did not endure beyond the expiration date by application of the pension protection clause. Many of the plaintiffs were, however, entitled to lifetime health coverage per their fixed-rate subsidies which could not be diminished or impaired.