John Parker Lawsuit Update IP: 173.168.130.39 Posted on September 5, 2011 at 06:05:43 PM by Dennis Ribaya
5 September 2011
To All Retirees:
Judge Richard A. Nielsen has finally ruled on Plaintiff’s Motion for an Award of Attorneys’ Fees and Taxable Costs and Plaintiffs’ Supplement filed by the Plaintiff, John N. Parker. For those interested in reading Judge Nielsen’s ruling it is: Case No. 07-007198, Division: L. available at Hillsborough County Court House.
Judge Nielsen ruled:
1. Plaintiff, John N. Parker shall recover from defendant, Board of Trustees of the City Pension Fund for Firefighters and Police Officers in the City of Tampa the sum of $1,026,610.00 as attorneys’ fees in this action.
2. Prejudgment interest on the above amount is granted to the Plaintiff from February 1, 2010, to present.
3. Costs in the sum of $33,567.56 are awarded to the Plaintiff, John N. Parker.
Judge Nielsen has ruled, and so this phase is over. If the Pension Fund pays what this ruling has stated, then we retirees will finally get some closure on this class action lawsuit. However, since the Pension Fund has retained a noted appeals attorney, Robert S. Glazier from Miami, and has paid him $23,725.00 to date, it may be too early to celebrate the end of this ordeal. An appeal will cost our Fund more money and they would have to show how Judge Nielsen had erred in his decision. We shall see.
We also know that this lawsuit did not have to get this far. This could have been settled for approximately $30,000.00, but Pension Fund Attorney Ron Cohen advised the Board of Trustees against that. Our Pension attorney has advised the Fund to spend and consequently has been paid approximately $465,835.00 of our pension dollars defending a lost cause. Let’s not forget the $194,822.00 for the professional folks like Buck Consultants, court reporters, Accountant and other assorted professionals. Also figured in would be the statutory interest rate of six per cent (6%) per annum on the fee of $1,026,610.00 from February 1, 2010 which is approximately $100,000.00. Those entire figures together total $1,844,559.56 and they still may not be done. If the past is any indication of the future we can expect at least one more court case and more fees for our Pension Fund Attorney.
Also, what is really tragic is the number of retirees who have passed away, approximately 150, that did not get the opportunity to enjoy what was rightfully theirs, all because no one wanted to step up and admit a mistake had been made. This is sad.
Now we will have to wait and see if the Pension Board Trustees vote to pay Wayne Thomas’ fee. If not, then it’s off to a costly appeals process and who knows when we will finally get closure and our interest money owed which is approximately $1,500.00 per eligible retiree.