Ashley Dunning

Dunning is a nationally recognized public pension attorney who advises and litigates for more than 20 public retirement systems, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

As lead counsel for the Merced County Employees’ Retirement Association, Dunning was one of the defense attorneys who persuaded the state Supreme Court not to reexamine the “California Rule,” a July 30 decision that stopped legislative attempts to strip public employees of accrued pension benefits without providing something of equal value in return. The decision allowed public employers to plug loopholes and forestall abuse while preserving the strength of the ‘California Rule,’ a judicial doctrine which allows public employees to continue accruing benefits on the same terms as when they were hired. Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Association et al. v. Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association et al., 2020 DJDAR 7952 (State Sup. Ct., filed February 16, 2018).

“For those alterations that disadvantage pensioners, courts will now closely examine the stated purposes of such modifications to determine whether they are justified and thus are permissible under the contracts clause of the California Constitution,” Dunning said.

Dunning led a Nossaman team to victory last December for the Sonoma County Employees’ Retirement Association. The 1st District Court of Appeal unanimously declined review of the lower court in Luke v. County of Sonoma, Sonoma County Employees’ Retirement Association, (2019) 43 Cal. App. 5th 301).

The appellate court thus affirmed the plaintiff was time-barred from challenging the payment of increased public employee pension benefits the county granted 17 years earlier.

The ruling affirms the accrual of actions challenging once-in-time acts of public agencies as they apply to public retirement benefits, Dunning explained.

“I am gratified that both Nossaman and our public pension clients have provided me with these extraordinary professional opportunities,” she said.

— Nick Kipley