STRS Cola Class Action
Goldenberg Schneider has joined forces with attorneys from Minnillo & Jenkins, Co., L.P.A., and Finney Law Firm, LLC, and filed a putative class action against the Ohio State Teachers Retirement Board on behalf of all participants in the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), alleging that changes made to cost of living adjustments (COLA) in 2017 violated state laws, the U.S. Constitution and the state constitution. In March 2017, the pension fund’s board reduced the COLA to zero from 2% effective July 1, 2017. The suit, filed May 23, 2019, in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, alleges that the pension fund’s elimination of the COLA for all retirees in 2017 violated procedural and substantive due process, impaired their right of contract, and violated the contracts clause and takings clause in both the U.S. and Ohio constitutions.
The case, Dennis v. State Teachers Retirement Board, No. 1:19-cv-00386-SJD, is currently pending before Judge Susan J. Dlott in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.