The present action is a successor to the suit by the Baxter petitioners. In February 2016-while the Baxter appeal was pending-respondents in this appeal, who are 31 retired District teachers (hereafter
In July 2017-five months prior to this court's decision in Baxter -the trial court granted Teachers' petition for writ of mandate in this case, concluding that CalSTRS's claims to reduce Teachers' retirement benefits and collect overpayments were time-barred. The trial court held that CalSTRS, by no later than July 30, 2010, "was 'aware of the possibility' " that there were District schoolteachers other than the Baxter petitioners whose retirement benefits had been incorrectly calculated by the District, but that "CalSTRS did not take action until 2014, more than three years later." In holding that CalSTRS was barred from recouping prior overpayments from Teachers or from reducing future payments to correct the District's prior miscalculation, the trial court concluded that the continuous accrual theory did not apply.
CalSTRS appealed from the judgment. In its appeal, CalSTRS challenges the trial court's rejection of the continuous accrual theory. CalSTRS urges that, under Baxter , the continuous accrual theory applies, and that "CalSTRS is time-barred only as to claims relating to pension benefit payments made more than three years before CalSTRS took 'action' by reducing each individual teacher's monthly benefit payment[ ]."
We hold-following Baxter , supra ,
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
A. Pre-Suit Background
Teachers are retired employees of the District who had been classroom teachers.
"CalSTRS was created by the Legislature in 1913 as a retirement system for credentialed California teachers and administrators in kindergarten through community college. (See § 22000 et seq. (Teachers' Retirement Law).)" ( Duarte v. California State Teachers' Retirement System (2014)
"On September 29, 1999, the District and the Salinas Valley Federation of Teachers (SVFT) entered into a tentative collective bargaining agreement for the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 school years. That agreement included an
The Teachers' Retirement Law was amended in 2000 to provide, effective January 1, 2001, supplemental benefits for members of the DB Program. (§ 25000; see Stats. 2000, ch. 74, § 69, p. 1261.) As a result, a Defined Benefit Supplement Program (DBS Program) was established to provide, inter alia, retirement benefits that are separate from those paid under the DB Program. After the DBS Program was established by statute, the hours that CalSTRS members worked beyond full-time work (i.e., in excess of 1,000 hours), such as overtime or summer school work, were creditable to the DBS Program. Under the DBS Program, the member receives a lump sum or annuity based upon his or her contribution to that program.
"Schools within the District utilized a six period schedule. [Schoolteachers] within the District typically taught five of those periods and used the additional period to prepare prospective lesson plans. Some of them, however, including [the Baxter petitioners], agreed to teach during their sixth period time for additional compensation, and to shift their preparation time to before or after the regular school day. [The Baxter petitioners] believed that this additional compensation would be credited toward their retirement plan [i.e., the DB Program, which was] ... administered by CalSTRS." ( Baxter , supra ,
"From September 29, 2008, until October 1, 2008, Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C. (MHM), an accounting firm commissioned by CalSTRS, performed an audit of District records. CalSTRS received the auditor's findings
"CalSTRS issued its final audit report on July 30, 2010, upholding the draft report's finding. The audit concluded with two corrective orders. First, CalSTRS demanded that, within 60 days, the District submit corrections to CalSTRS to reverse the improperly credited compensation. [CalSTRS advised that o]nce the District submitted corrections, CalSTRS would recalculate the relevant retired teachers' retirement allowances based on the correct final compensation and adjustment notification letters would be sent to affected teachers. Second, the District was ordered to 'remit the total overpayments to CalSTRS for the retired members.' " ( Baxter , supra ,
The final audit report of July 30, 2010, was mailed by CalSTRS to the District and to the Baxter petitioners. ( Baxter , supra ,
At various times between June 2014 and February 2015, Teachers (with four exceptions) received correspondence from CalSTRS advising them that their respective monthly DB Program benefit payments would be reduced and that CalSTRS would collect monies from Teachers that they had received as overpayments at the rate of five percent per month. In that same time period, CalSTRS
B. The Baxter Litigation
"[The Baxter petitioners] appealed the final audit findings on or before December 3, 2010. CalSTRS filed a statement of issues with the Office of Administrative Hearings on July 6, 2012. [After a]n administrative hearing, ... [o]n July 18, 2013, the administrative law judge ("ALJ") issued a proposed decision ... in favor of CalSTRS .... [After rejecting the ALJ's proposed decision, o]n January 23, 2014, the [Appeals] Committee [of CalSTRS] issued a decision in favor of CalSTRS." ( Baxter , supra ,
The Baxter petitioners on March 24, 2014, filed a petition for a peremptory writ of administrative mandamus under Code of Civil Procedure section 1094.5. ( Baxter , supra ,
First, this court in Baxter interpreted the language of section 22008, subdivision (c) (§ 22008(c)), which provides that the limitations period " 'shall commence with the discovery of the incorrect payment.' "
Second, we held in Baxter that, as applied to the case, the limitations period as to CalSTRS's claim regarding overpayments made to the Baxter
Third, this court in Baxter addressed section 22008, subdivision (a) (§ 22008(a)), which requires that the "action ... be commenced" within three years of the accrual of the claim.
Fourth, Baxter addressed the trial court's finding that CalSTRS's efforts to correct the miscalculation of the Baxter petitioners' retirement benefits was entirely time-barred. We considered CalSTRS's argument "that, even if the trial court
On December 12, 2017, this court reversed the judgment. Because the Baxter petitioners had, in addition to the statute of limitations, asserted that CalSTRS was barred from proceeding based upon principles of equitable estoppel and laches, and the trial court had not addressed those issues, we remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings to address those defenses. ( Baxter,
C. The Blaser Litigation
On February 1, 2016, Teachers filed their verified petition for writ of mandate and complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief. Teachers filed a verified amended petition and complaint (amended petition) on or about February 27, 2017, alleging eight causes of action. They alleged in the amended petition that during the period of June 2014 through February 2015, CalSTRS began reducing the monthly retirement benefits of Teachers (with four exceptions)
In the first cause of action of their amended petition, Teachers alleged a claim for traditional mandate under Code of Civil Procedure section 1085.
CalSTRS opposed Teachers' request for a preliminary injunction. By order filed May 10, 2016, the trial court granted Teachers' request for a preliminary injunction.
CalSTRS filed opposition to the amended petition. The District filed a statement of partial nonopposition in which it agreed with Teachers that CalSTRS (1) should be barred from reducing Teachers' monthly retirement benefits and from collecting "alleged overpayments," (2) had failed to afford Teachers due process before it directed the District to rereport Teachers' compensation for purposes of calculating retirement benefits, and (3) was time-barred from reducing Teachers' benefits.
After a court trial and submission of the matter, the court filed its intended decision on June 2, 2017, finding in favor of Teachers. The trial court concluded that CalSTRS's claims against Teachers to reduce their retirement benefits and to collect overpayments were time-barred. It reasoned that "by no later than July 30, 2010, [CalSTRS] was 'aware of the possibility' that there were District members, other than those identified in the audit, who had received DB credit for sixth-period service ... [but] CalSTRS did not take action until 2014, more than three years later." And the trial court concluded that the continuous accrual theory did not apply. It thus rejected CalSTRS's
The court on July 10, 2017, entered judgment granting issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate (1) directing CalSTRS to restore Teachers to the benefit level derived by including compensation for sixth period work as creditable to their respective DB Program accounts, and (2) prohibiting CalSTRS from "revisit[ing] the issue of the inclusion of sixth period earnings in each [Teachers'] final compensation for retirement purposes" in any subsequent audit. CalSTRS filed a timely notice of appeal from the judgment.
A. Standard of Review
As this court explained in Baxter : "Pure questions of law decided by the trial court are reviewed de novo by the court of appeal. ( Regents of University of California v. Superior Court (1999)
As the central question on appeal here is whether the trial court properly held that the continuous accrual theory did not apply, and thus CalSTRS was barred from asserting any claims regarding overpayments with respect to periodic pension benefits to Teachers, our review is de novo.
1. Theory Applies to This Case
a. Application of Dryden v. Board of Pension Commrs. (1936)
CalSTRS asserts one challenge to the judgment. It contends the trial court erred in concluding that, because the continuous accrual theory was inapplicable, CalSTRS was completely time-barred from bringing any action against Teachers with respect to prior monthly pension overpayments or from reducing monthly benefits going forward to address the improper crediting of sixth-period compensation to Teachers' respective DB Program accounts. CalSTRS argues that "[t]he trial court's rejection of the continuous accrual theory ... is squarely at odds with [the] holding in Baxter. " It contends that because this case presents "near-identical facts" to those in Baxter , the continuous accrual theory applies here.
Relying on one of the examples of Supreme Court precedent described above-periodic pension benefits as considered in Dryden , supra ,
We concluded in Baxter that Dryden compelled the conclusion that the continuous accrual theory applied to CalSTRS's claims involving the Baxter petitioners. ( Baxter , supra ,
The instant proceeding concerns the same periodic (monthly) pension payments presented in Baxter. And the claims of CalSTRS that Teachers assert to be time-barred-claims seeking to recoup prior overpayments and to reduce future monthly payments to correct errors in the reporting of sixth-period compensation as DB-creditable-are identical to the claims in Baxter. We therefore conclude that under Baxter , which was founded upon California Supreme Court precedent, the continuous accrual theory applies here.
b. Response to Teachers' Contentions
Teachers, however, contend that the continuous accrual theory should not be applied in this case. Their position consists of five principal contentions: (1) the facts and procedural posture of this case are dissimilar to those in Baxter ; (2) here, as distinguished from Baxter , CalSTRS did not commence an "action" by filing a statement of issues in an administrative proceeding; (3) Teachers did not act "wrongfully" and thus the theory does not apply; (4) Teachers have vested rights to their pension benefits; and (5) since CalSTRS is not the holder of the benefit (i.e., pension rights), it has no standing to assert the applicability of the continuous accrual theory.
First, Teachers argue that the continuous accrual theory should not apply because of significant procedural and factual dissimilarities between the instant case and Baxter. They note that, unlike the Baxter petitioners, they were given neither notice by CalSTRS of its draft or final audits of 2010, nor the opportunity to challenge the final audit's findings in an administrative hearing to determine whether their sixth-period earnings were incorrectly reported as DB-creditable. Further, Teachers argue that in Baxter , unlike here, there was an administrative finding of incorrect reporting that the Baxter petitioners did not challenge in the superior court proceeding. Here, Teachers urge, there is no such administrative finding that Teachers' (as distinguished from the Baxter petitioners') sixth-period earnings were incorrectly reported to their respective DB Program accounts.
The contention lacks merit. Although Teachers did not receive notice of the draft or final audits of 2010 or have an opportunity to challenge the final audit findings in an administrative proceeding, Teachers do challenge in their writ proceeding the propriety of CalSTRS's reduction of their pension benefits, urging that the statute of limitations bars CalSTRS's claim. Moreover, even though there was no administrative finding here concerning
Second-and related to the first argument-Teachers contend that the continuous accrual theory is inapplicable because, unlike the procedural posture in Baxter , here CalSTRS did not commence an "action" by filing a statement of issues in an administrative proceeding. It is true that in Baxter , CalSTRS filed a statement of issues in an administrative proceeding, and that this act, we concluded, constituted CalSTRS's commencement of an " 'action' " for purposes of suspending the running of the statute of limitations under section 22008. ( Baxter , supra , 18 Cal.App.5th at p.369,
Third, Teachers argue that the continuous accrual theory does not apply here because they "did not act wrongfully." Their argument tracks the trial court's
We respectfully disagree with the trial court's reasoning. The court's reasoning that the continuous accrual theory is inapplicable where the party against whom it is asserted has not acted "wrongfully" appears to be founded on language of the Supreme Court in Aryeh , supra ,
Applying the continuous accrual theory, the Supreme Court reversed. It explained in Aryeh that the theory was "a response to the inequities that would arise if the expiration of the limitations period following a first breach of duty or instance of misconduct were treated as sufficient to bar suit for any subsequent breach or misconduct; parties engaged in long-standing misfeasance would thereby obtain immunity in perpetuity from suit even for recent
Neither the Aryeh court nor the Hogar Dulce Hogar court defined the term "wrongful act" in the context of the continuous accrual theory. And "wrongful" is a term used in the law in many contexts, carrying diverse meanings. (See
Based upon our review of legal precedent and our understanding of the principles and policies of the continuous accrual theory, we conclude that the theory is not limited in its application to cases in which a payor has acted "wrongfully" in the sense of failing or refusing to make a periodic payment to a payee. There is no logical reason, founded in law or policy, to hold, for example, that a payor who has made excessive periodic payments-or other periodic payments to which the payee is not legally entitled-over an extended time may not bring an action as to specific periodic payments for which the statute of limitations has not run. (Cf. Aryeh , supra ,
Further, the " 'wrongful act' " ( Aryeh , supra ,
Fourth, Teachers argue that the continuous accrual theory is inapplicable because they "have a vested right to their respective retirement benefit." This argument echoes the statement of the trial court that "[a]pplying the continuous accrual theory ... would be contrary to the theory's policy; it would deprive [Teachers] of their vested rights. [Citations.]" Although we agree that Teachers clearly hold vested rights to properly calculated retirement benefits, they have no such rights, vested or otherwise, to excess payments based upon incorrect calculations. As we stated in Baxter , "[A] contrary conclusion [not applying the continuous accrual theory] would permit a retiree to receive, potentially for years, monthly pension benefits that were not earned; this would be inconsistent with the principle that although pension provisions are to be broadly construed in favor of the person benefited, ' " 'they cannot be construed so as to confer benefits on persons not entitled thereto.' " [Citation.]' " ( Baxter , supra ,
Fifth, Teachers assert that the continuous accrual theory does not apply here because it "can only be asserted by the holder of a benefit, and not by the public and/or private entity providing the benefit." (Original underscoring.) In support of their position, Teachers cite
This court in Baxter , in concluding that under the continuous accrual theory CalSTRS was time-barred only as to claims made more than three years before it commenced an action, implicitly recognized that CalSTRS had standing to assert the theory's applicability. (See Baxter , supra , 18 Cal.App.5th at pp. 380-382.) Additionally, as we noted above, the cases that have applied the continuous accrual theory have usually, but not always , concerned the protection of a payee from a defense that his or her claim was entirely
Nor do we understand Aryeh , supra ,
We conclude that the continuous accrual theory applies in this case. This conclusion is compelled by this court's holding in Baxter , supra ,
2. Commencement of the Action
Because the continuous accrual theory applies, CalSTRS may pursue a claim as to any periodic pension benefits that accrued not more than three years before CalSTRS commenced an "action" within the meaning of section 22008(a). ( Baxter , supra ,
Since the focus of the appeal by CalSTRS is on whether the continuous accrual theory applies to this case, the parties have not addressed in detail the issue of, assuming the theory's applicability, what event constituted CalSTRS's initiation of an "action" under section 22008(a).
This court in Baxter , supra ,
It remains to be determined, therefore, whether CalSTRS here commenced an "action," and, if so, the date of such commencement. Initially we observe that Teachers suggest in their respondents' brief that this court held in Baxter that the only way CalSTRS could commence an "action" for purposes of satisfying the statute of limitations was by filing a statement of issues in an administrative proceeding. We did not so hold. Rather, this court concluded in Baxter that under the factual and procedural context of that case, CalSTRS's filing of a statement of issues in the administrative proceeding involving the Baxter petitioners' challenge to the final audit was the commencement of an "action." This court did not conclude that in other contexts, the only way CalSTRS could commence an action was through the filing of a statement of issues in an administrative proceeding.
Teachers initiated this lawsuit on February 1, 2016, by filing their verified petition and complaint. This conduct was not the commencement of an "action" directly by CalSTRS. But under well-established principles governing civil litigation, the plaintiff's filing of a complaint suspends the running of the statute of limitations as to any claims by the defendant against the plaintiff that are not time-barred when the action is filed. (See ZF Micro Devices, Inc. v. TAT Capital Partners, Ltd. (2016)
3. Laches and Estoppel
In the final section of their brief, Teachers urge that, if this court were to
The question of whether a party has committed laches " 'is a question of fact for the trial court.' [Citation.]" ( Piscioneri v. City of Ontario (2002)
Teachers did not raise below the applicability of either laches or equitable estoppel. The trial court, in its intended decision, acknowledged Teachers' failure to assert either argument. On remand, the trial court may, upon request, address whether Teachers are entitled to assert laches and/or estoppel, and, in the event it determines Teachers may do so, whether laches and/or estoppel serve as a bar to the assertion by CalSTRS of claims related to overpayments.
IV. DISPOSITION
The judgment entered July 10, 2017, is reversed. The case is remanded to the trial court. Upon request, the trial court shall consider whether Teachers may assert laches and/or estoppel as a defense to claims by CalSTRS related to overpayments where such claims are not otherwise barred by the three-year statute of limitations. If, upon such request, the court concludes that Teachers may assert laches and/or estoppel, the court may then proceed to determine whether under such doctrine(s), CalSTRS is precluded from asserting claims related to overpayments not otherwise time-barred. If the court concludes that such doctrine(s) does/do apply, it shall enter a new a different judgment accordingly. If the court concludes that Petitioners may not assert laches and/or estoppel, or if it concludes that the doctrine(s) does not/do not apply, the court is directed to enter a new and different judgment providing as follows: "CalSTRS is barred by the three-year statute of limitations of Education Code section 22008 from asserting any claims against Petitioners related to overpayments for periodic pension benefits to them that accrued more than three years before February 1, 2016. To the extent CalSTRS has previously deducted from Petitioners' benefits monies claimed due for overpayments on periodic pension benefits accruing prior to February 1, 2013, CalSTRS is directed to return such collected funds to Petitioners, and each of them. CalSTRS, under the continuous accrual theory, is not precluded from asserting any claim regarding past overpayment, collecting upon such past overpayments, or adjusting any future monthly pension benefit payments of Petitioners, where such periodic payments accrued on or after February 1, 2013."
WE CONCUR:
GREENWOOD, P.J.
DANNER, J.
Notes
All further statutory references are to the Education Code unless otherwise specified.
As originally constituted, the parties who filed suit consisted of 33 petitioners. Prior to the hearing, four of the original petitioners, pursuant to stipulation and order, withdrew with prejudice. At or about the same time, the petition, by stipulation, was amended to add two new petitioners. The identities of the petitioners in whose favor judgment was entered, whom we refer to herein collectively as Teachers, are: Stephen V. Blaser, Diane S. Butler, Kathey Felt, Prudencia O. Garnica, Margaret J. Greco, Carol S. Hammons, Evelyn C. Hansen, Vera L. Heaston, Corren Hileman, Susan R. Hunter, Ann Jaramillo, Vickie Lauderbach, Linda M. Mayr, Paul W. McCarroll, Ted J. Meyenberg, Colleen A. Neary-Bettiga, Linda H. Perkins, Spiro Pettas, Thomas Aubrey Price, David G. Raptis, Sharon L. Seagraves, Jeffrey Sweet, Barbara Thornbury, Rheta V. Thure, Mary Ann Traylor, Sandra L. Uecker, Torrey K. Valencia, Kenneth E. Watje, Cynthia L. Wolfe, Sharon Slocum, and Steven Howell.
The parties do not dispute that the current litigation and Baxter share many of the relevant background facts. We will therefore quote from portions of our opinion in Baxter.
One of the 31 Teachers, Colleen A. Neary-Bettiga, was still working for the District as of February 2017 when the petition was filed. And two of the Teachers, Vickie Lauderbach and Torrey K. Valencia, were not classroom teachers. As a result, although we understand that each of the Teachers claim that CalSTRS improperly reduced their monthly retirement benefits based upon extra work having been incorrectly reported by the District as creditable to their respective Defined Benefit Program accounts, the dispute as to Lauderbach and Valencia, unlike the remaining 29 Teachers, does not involve the reporting of sixth-period compensation for calculation of retirement benefits. Since the parties do not otherwise make a distinction between the dispute involving Lauderbach and Valencia and the dispute of the remaining Teachers, we will refer to the reporting error dispute throughout as one that concerned Teachers' sixth-period compensation.
A succinct explanation of the nature of the problem from CalSTRS's perspective is found in a statement made in the declaration of Peter Haley, director of CalSTRS's member accounts services, who declared: "[T]he reporting of the part-time compensation as part of the member's regular full-time compensation (i.e., crediting it to the DB Program) will inflate the member's DB account resulting in the member receiving an enhanced lifetime pension benefit that they are [sic ] not entitled to receive."
CalSTRS similarly advised the District when CalSTRS transmitted the final audit report that the District had incorrectly reported 15 members' extra duty earnings to the DB Program rather than DBS Program, and that the District could appeal through an administrative hearing process. (Baxter , supra ,
Respondents Felt, Lauderbach, Neary-Bettiga, and Seagraves did not receive letters from CalSTRS advising them of benefit reductions or that their monthly retirement benefits were being reduced.
Section 22008, subdivision (c) provides: "If an incorrect payment is made due to lack of information or inaccurate information regarding the eligibility of a member, former member, beneficiary, or annuity beneficiary to receive benefits under the Defined Benefit Program or Defined Benefit Supplement Program, the period of limitation shall commence with the discovery of the incorrect payment."
Section 22008, subdivision (a) provides: "For the purposes of payments into or out of the retirement fund for adjustments of errors or omissions with respect to the Defined Benefit Program or the Defined Benefit Supplement Program, the period of limitation of actions shall be applied, except as provided in Sections 23302 and 24613, as follows: [¶] (a) No action may be commenced by or against the board, the system, or the plan more than three years after all obligations to or on behalf of the member, former member, beneficiary, or annuity beneficiary have been discharged."
See footnote 7, ante.
CalSTRS thus does not challenge various findings of the trial court, including that (1) by no later than January 27, 2010, CalSTRS had acquired the 2005 Fellows memorandum, a document that this court held in Baxter provided constructive notice to CalSTRS that the Baxter petitioners were receiving incorrect pension payments because of the incorrect reporting of their compensation for sixth-period work; (2) CalSTRS did not take "action" until 2014, more than three years after accrual of the statute of limitations; and (3) under Norgart v. Upjohn Co. (1999)
The Supreme Court has reaffirmed on at least three occasions that, under Dryden , a pensioner has a continuing right to receive periodic payments. (See, e.g., Aryeh , supra , 55 Cal.4th at pp. 1198-1199,
The thrust of Teachers' argument at the hearing was that CalSTRS was time-barred from taking corrective action to address overpayments to Teachers that resulted from the District's incorrect reporting of sixth period compensation. Teachers' counsel, Barry Bennett, advised the court: "[T]he audit revealed that ... allegedly improper payment-and for purposes of this proceeding, we'll assume that it was ... improper-had been made to a group of people. The audit ... revealed the incorrect payment. At that point, CalSTRS could simply have determined the scope of the incorrect payment, the audit having already been conducted, and notified all affected people." Since Teachers did not challenge in the trial court the substance of the final audit's conclusion that the District had incorrectly reported CalSTRS members' sixth-period compensation as DB-creditable, and since Teachers in the trial court had the full opportunity to assert such substantive challenge, they no longer have any right (assuming they did prior to resolution of their petition) to challenge the audit's conclusion in an administrative appeal.
Teachers asserted below that CalSTRS violated their due process rights by failing to advise them of the audit conclusions or failing to afford them the opportunity to challenge them in an administrative proceeding. In its tentative decision, the trial court recognized Teachers' due process claim and the fact that they sought a new hearing to contest the audit. The court acknowledged further that it was CalSTRS's position that "it followed all applicable audit procedures" and contended "that it is impractical for it to afford members who were not part of a limited audit sample the opportunity to object to a long-completed audit." The trial court decided that its ultimate determination that CalSTRS's claim was time-barred "render[ed] consideration of [these] issue[s] unnecessary." Teachers do not assert on appeal that the trial court erred in this respect. Further, since our conclusions regarding the statute of limitations here resolve the controversy of whether, or to what extent, CalSTRS may assert a claim based upon monthly pension payments that were based upon incorrect reporting by the District, we need not address Teachers' due process issue here.
The question of when CalSTRS commenced, or is deemed to have commenced, an "action" for purposes of suspending (or tolling) the statute of limitations is discussed in part II.B.2., post.
Injecting an element of blameworthiness into the application of the continuous accrual theory could lead to uncertain and inconsistent results. For instance, a party whose claim is asserted to be barred by the statute of limitations may be permitted to assert the continuous accrual theory where the other party is considered blameworthy because he or she did not have a subjective good faith belief in his or her legal position, while a similar claimant would not be able to assert the theory if his opponent in good faith believed his or her legal position to be meritorious.
We addressed in Baxter a parallel concern regarding the potential unilateral application of the continuous accrual theory. This court held that if the theory were held inapplicable to CalSTRS's claim, a consistent position that the theory was inapplicable to the reverse situation-where the payee-pensioner was claiming a series of underpayments to his or her monthly benefits-"would permit CalSTRS to escape its obligation to provide full monthly pension benefits to a retired school teacher by holding that the retiree, by failing to bring an action that was timely as to one or more monthly payments, forfeited all rights to complain about any past or future monthly benefits similarly miscalculated." (Baxter ,
Indeed, it was held in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers , supra ,
During oral argument, this court solicited argument from both counsel as to their respective positions concerning the date that CalSTRS initiated an "action" under section 22008(a).
CalSTRS's statement as to the date it took "action" by reducing Teachers' monthly benefits is somewhat unclear. But it appears from the record that the precise date of such "action" differed as between various Teachers. Teachers alleged that CalSTRS began reducing benefits (with four exceptions) in June 2014. We understand from the allegations that the commencement of reductions as to various Teachers occurred between June 2014 and February 2015, and that CalSTRS admits these circumstances. Because we conclude that CalSTRS's reduction of benefits did not constitute commencement of an "action," we need not address further the dates that these reductions occurred.
Code of Civil Procedure section 30 provides: "A civil action is prosecuted by one party against another for the declaration, enforcement or protection of a right, or the redress or prevention of a wrong."