PENSIONS: THE NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS ON J.J. CONWAY LAW CLASS ACTION

On October 28, 2014, Mary Williams Walsh, a New York Times journalist who has been chronicling the nation’s public pension crisis, reported on a case in which J.J. Conway Law is one of the law firms representing the plaintiffs.  Appearing on the front page of the New York Times Business Section, the paper published an in-depth account of two cases pending in Detroit, Michigan against the plans’ actuaries.  (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/lawsuit-contends-consultant-misled-detroit-pension-plan/?_r=0).

The article entitled, Lawsuit Contends Consultant Misled Detroit Pension Plan, states:

The lawsuit seeks to have the pension plan made whole, in an amount to be determined at trial, and to have Gabriel Roeder enjoined “from perpetrating similar wrongs on others.”  Lawsuits like the one [the Plaintiff] has filed have also been brought against Gabriel Roeder by members of Detroit’s pension fund for police and firefighters, and the fund for the employees of surrounding Wayne County. The plaintiffs cite damage growing out of Detroit’s financial collapse, but the litigation may have implications far beyond southeastern Michigan because of Gabriel Roeder’s status and influence in the world of public pensions. Its method for scheduling pension contributions is exceptionally popular and widely used by governments, although federal law does not permit companies to use it.

Serving together with the law firm of Mantese Honigman, J.J. Conway Law is representing municipal retirees in litigation involving the City of Detroit General Retirement Systems, the City of Detroit Police & Fire Retirement System, and the Wayne County Employees Retirement System.  The claims assert that funds’ actuaries did not adequately account for changing economic conditions facing the municipalities and did not account for the massive losses incurred in the administration of funds when making actuarial assumptions and making funding recommendations. The firms successfully resolved claims against the Trustees of the two City of Detroit pension systems for losses associated with the widespread use of alternative and unregulated investments.