White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Pirro to File Rebuttal to City Defense of Police Retiree Med. Prem Payment 2Day

WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. From The Pirro Group (Edited) July 1, 2010: A group of retired police officers who are suing the City of White Plains to block it from forcing them to pay a portion of their health insurance costs will know before July 10 whether they have to make their first payment. U.S. District Court Justice Stephen C. Robinson said Tuesday that he would try to decide on the group’s application for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction before July 10 – the date they would have to start paying health insurance costs or face losing their coverage. Albert J. Pirro, who is representing the group of 144 officers, argued the case before Robinson Tuesday in U.S. District Court in White Plains. Pirro said his clients should not be forced to make payments before the case goes to trial. The judge also granted Pirro additional time to file written arguments to rebut new issues brought up by the city’s attorneys. A spokesperson for The Pirro Group told WPCNR today Mr. Pirro would be filing that rebuttal some time today. A text of Mr. Pirro’s suit on behalf of the retired police officers may be read on the website, www.honoryourpromise.com. Go to "In the News" on the Honor Your Promise site, and click on the link, "Memorandum of Law In Support if Plaintiffs Application for a Preliminary Injunction, and then you may read the Summons and Complaint, by clinking on the link of that name.

Pirro is suing the city in federal court, charging that it violated his clients’ civil rights by reneging on its contract agreement to pay for the full cost of health benefits. The suit also names Mayor Adam Bradley and the City Attorney John Callahan. Pirro, who is representing the officers without charge, said the city was breaking its promise to the officers, many of whom are now elderly and living on fixed incomes and cannot afford the sudden expense. He said that the city was imposing the additional cost on these retirees while granting raises to commissioners who have personal ties to the mayor. He estimated that the city’s additional savings for the 144 retired officers amounted to only about $270,000 a year of its nearly $155 million budget. The city notified approximately 650 retired civil servants, including police and firefighters of the change in policy in a June 3 letter, demanding that they pay the first quarterly installment by July 10 or face the loss of their health coverage. The added costs amount to as much as $2,395 a year. On June 14, Pirro filed a notice of claim putting the City on notice of the suit. Pirro said that former city Mayor Alfred DelVecchio and Mayor Joseph Delfino have provided affidavits supporting the retired officers.


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