Underwood v. City of Chicago

In pension litigation, Plaintiffs claim that each of the defendant Funds has an obligation, per the 1983 and 1985 amendments to Illinois Pension Code and Illinois Constitution's pension protection clause, to select and establish a healthcare plan for its annuitants. Plaintiffs' motion to compel each of the Funds to provide its annuitants with a healthcare plan was not barred by he First District Appellate Court's 2017 decision in Underwood II (Underwood v. City of Chicago), as this issue was not decided in that opinion. The eligibility cutoff for City employees entitled to receive the fixed-rate subsidies is 6/30/03, the last day before the terms of the court-approved 2003 settlement were incorporated by legislative amendment into the Pension Code and thereby became an enforceable provision of the Code. Those portions of the circuit court's 2018 and 2019 orders to the contrary are vacated. (CUNNINGHAM and CONNORS, concurring.)