Every once in awhile some small piece of good news comes along. It's the "don't give up on me" news. Today's good news comes in the form of a Supreme Court ruling that vacates the judgement of January 16, 2003 in the City of Eugene case ("Lipscomb"). While this doesn't undo the effect of the case, it removes the case as legal precedent and may not be cited in future PERS litigation. This is a result of the Supreme Court's ruling last August that mooted the City of Eugene appeal itself by the PERS Coalition. For those interested in reading the Court's ruling, a copy will be posted on my web site later today and an addendum made to this post providing the link.
To be a bit more precise on the effect, normally when the Supreme Court "moots" a legal case, it vacates the underlying case rendering it of no further legal significance. When the Oregon Supreme Court mooted the PERS Coalition's appeal of the City of Eugene judgement, the SC failed to vacate the underlying judgement. This was seen as a glaring omission and legally problematic as it left in force a judgement that itself had been superceded by Legislative action and a settlement agreement. However, as long as the judgement itself wasn't vacated, the case remained as a legal precedent that precluded any further litigation. As I understand it, the City of Eugene ruling simply no longer exists.
To be a bit more precise on the effect, normally when the Supreme Court "moots" a legal case, it vacates the underlying case rendering it of no further legal significance. When the Oregon Supreme Court mooted the PERS Coalition's appeal of the City of Eugene judgement, the SC failed to vacate the underlying judgement. This was seen as a glaring omission and legally problematic as it left in force a judgement that itself had been superceded by Legislative action and a settlement agreement. However, as long as the judgement itself wasn't vacated, the case remained as a legal precedent that precluded any further litigation. As I understand it, the City of Eugene ruling simply no longer exists.
No comments:
Post a Comment