California Judges Prevail on Appeal

Skadden has secured the affirmance of a trial court's December 2015 decision in favor of client Robert Mallano and a class of more than 3,000 state judges, justices and judicial pensioners in a declaratory judgment action brought against the California controller and board of administration of the California Public Employees' Retirement System. On April 5, the California Court of Appeal upheld the trial court's ruling that judges, justices and judicial pension beneficiaries did not receive the full amount of salaries and benefits to which they were statutorily entitled in each fiscal year since the 2008-09 fiscal year. The decision also upheld the trial court's declaration of what the proper judicial salaries were in each fiscal year. The court estimated the totals to be paid to be approximately $36 million.