Crawford v. City of San Jose Police & Fire Retirement Bd.
Appellant Philip Crawford, a self represented litigant, petitioned the superior court for a writ of mandate to compel respondents the Police and Fire Retirement Board (Retirement Board) and the City of San Jose (the City) to accept his request to redeposit withdrawn contributions into the Police and Fire Department Retirement Plan (the retirement fund). The trial court found that appellant was not entitled to the relief he sought. Appellant argues in this court that the Retirement Board was required to accept his request for redeposit as he is a member of a reciprocal system, the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS). We disagree with appellant, and find that the retirement fund does not have reciprocity with STRS. The City is a charter city and the retirement fund was established under its charter. The City entered into a contract of reciprocity with the state Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) as provided by Government Code section 20351. PERS has reciprocity with STRS pursuant to statute, Education Code section 22115.2. However, no statute provides for reciprocity between a retirement fund established under a charter citys charter and STRS, and the Citys reciprocity agreement with PERS does not provide for such reciprocity. Therefore, the trial court correctly denied appellants petition for writ of mandate and accompanying request for attorneys fees.
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