LaDonna Degan, et al. v. Board of Trustees of the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System

Prior to 2017, retired Dallas police and firefighters had the right to withdraw the earned and accrued retirement funds deposited in their Deferred Retirement Option Plan accounts in a lump sum at any time. In 2017, the Texas Legislature amended the Dallas Pension Statute, prohibiting retirees from accessing the corpus of these funds and replacing the right to access with small annuity payments over the expected lifetime of the retiree. The questions presented are:

1. Whether a retiree’s ownership interest in earned and accrued retirement funds deposited in a retirement account is a cognizable property interest for purposes of a Fifth Amendment Takings claim. The Fifth Circuit’s conclusion that there is no cognizable property interest is in direct conflict with the Texas Supreme Court’s conclusion that the retirement funds at issue in this case are a protected property interest.

2. When deciding a Takings Claim under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution where the property at issue is money, whether courts should use a per se analysis, a regulatory/ad hoc analysis, or some other analysis that more appropriately takes into account the unique nature of money ownership as distinct from the ownership of real or personal property—an issue over which federal courts of appeals are in conflict.

3. In light of this Court’s longstanding recognition of the bundle of rights associated with property ownership, whether prohibiting access to the corpus of earned and accrued retirement funds violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.