Lower court wrongly says that efforts to recoup overpayments are time-barred, appeal court rules

Over 30 retired teachers formerly employed by the Salinas Unified High School District recently filed a petition against the school district and against the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS).

CalSTRS – the defendant in the case of Blaser et al. v. California State Teachers' Retirement System – was the state agency responsible for managing contributions made by employees and by member school districts to the State Teachers’ Retirement Fund.

In 2016, the retired teachers challenged reductions that CalSTRS made and continued to make to their monthly retirement benefits after determining that the school district had made errors in its reporting. They claimed that these errors led to an overstatement of their monthly benefits.

In 2017, the trial court granted the retired teachers’ petition. The trial court said that CalSTRS’s claims to reduce the retirement benefits and to collect overpayments were time-barred.

In 2019, a panel of the California Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s decision. The panel made the following findings:

• The continuous accrual theory was applicable
• The trial court wrongly held that CalSTRS’s efforts to recoup overpayments were time-barred in relation to both past and future monthly retirement payments
• CalSTRS was not barred from adjusting to the correct amounts the monthly benefit payments accruing on or after Feb. 1, 2013 and...

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