{ "id": 2668480, "name": "Patrick Londrigan et al., minor children of Francis P. Londrigan, Deceased, by Marjorie Londrigan, their mother and next friend, Plaintiffs- Appellees, v. Board of Trustees, Firemen's Pension Fund of Springfield, Illinois, Defendant-Appellant", "name_abbreviation": "Londrigan v. Board of Trustees", "decision_date": "1972-09-27", "docket_number": "No. 11486", "first_page": "572", "last_page": "577", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "7 Ill. App. 3d 572" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.", "id": 8837, "name": "Illinois Appellate Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 29, "name_long": "Illinois", "name": "Ill." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "158 N.E. 220", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "326 Ill. 579", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill.", "case_ids": [ 5189050 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill/326/0579-01" ] }, { "cite": "220 Ill.App. 242", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App.", "case_ids": [ 5427759 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app/220/0242-01" ] }, { "cite": "14 Ill.App.2d 153", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 2d", "case_ids": [ 5174760 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-2d/14/0153-01" ] }, { "cite": "412 Ill. 430", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill.", "case_ids": [ 2663069 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill/412/0430-01" ] }, { "cite": "202 N.E.2d 489", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "weight": 2, "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "31 Ill.2d 566", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2831851 ], "weight": 2, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/31/0566-01" ] }, { "cite": "174 N.E.2d 168", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "22 Ill.2d 56", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2788944 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/22/0056-01" ] }, { "cite": "40 N.E.2d 94", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "313 Ill.App. 291", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App.", "case_ids": [ 3384273 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app/313/0291-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 514, "char_count": 9404, "ocr_confidence": 0.721, "pagerank": { "raw": 9.312528488605281e-08, "percentile": 0.5130254698246887 }, "sha256": "575e57c772fa4ee72c5a95ecaaea7920e1f46f615e2933ada14ed212a15e6a65", "simhash": "1:bce28c53ec21a43b", "word_count": 1562 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T16:18:17.074050+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "Patrick Londrigan et al., minor children of Francis P. Londrigan, Deceased, by Marjorie Londrigan, their mother and next friend, Plaintiffs- Appellees, v. Board of Trustees, Firemen\u2019s Pension Fund of Springfield, Illinois, Defendant-Appellant." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE TRAPP\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nThe defendant Trustees denied pension benefits to the four minor children of a deceased fireman. The Trustees appeal from the order of the court on administrative review reversing the decision of the Trustees. The record shows no memorandum of the trial court and its order contains no findings.\nFrancis Londrigan was appointed to the fire department in 1927. He retired on August 5, 1951, but made the statutory payments into the retirement fund until March, 1952, at which time he reached the age of 50 years, and began to draw the statutory pension. Londrigan s wife had died in January, 1952. They had no children when he became eligible and began to receive pension payments.\nLondiigan remarried in July, 1952, and the minor children concerned were thereafter bom. He died on December 8, 1969, the application for pension was filed in January, 1970, and the Trustees denied the pension claim of the minors on September 17, 1970, stating:\n\u201cThe Board of Trustees felt that the case was governed by Section 4 \u2014 115 of the Firemen\u2019s Pension Fund Act, which provides that if a fireman marries subsequent to the date of his retirement, no pension shall be allowed at his death to his widow or to her children. Therefore, the Board was compelled to deny the application on motion by Feeder, seconded by Ciotti and carried.\u201d\nAt the death of the fireman a statute was in effect, Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969, ch. 108%, par. 4 \u2014 115.1, providing:\n\u201cA child to be eligible for benefits under this Article must have been born in esse before the fireman resigned or was discharged from service * *\nThis section was argued on appeal, although it apparently had not been considered by the Trustees.\nThe issues argued have a point of origin in the language of III. Rev. Stat. 1951, ch. 24, par. 923, which, in providing for a pension for the widow and minor children of a retired fireman, said:\n\u201c[A]nd provided further that no pension shall be allowed to the widow of such deceased fireman, or to the children of such widow who has married such fireman subsequent to the date of his retirement with the pension under the provisions of this Act.\u201d\nThis language has existed in the statute providing for firemen\u2019s pension since the legislation in 1919 and was in effect at the time of decedent\u2019s employment as a fireman. It is the position of claimants that the minors qualify for the pension as the \u201cnatural children of a fireman and that the exclusion of children of such widow who has married the fireman subsequent to his retirement\u201d does not exclude these claimants. If we were making an original construction of the language of the statute, we would find this argument persuasive. The precise issue was decided adversely to the claim in 1942, however. In Boehne v. Board of Trustees Firemen\u2019s Pension, 313 Ill.App. 291, 40 N.E.2d 94, a fireman married subsequent to retirement and died leaving a widow and a minor child. Upon denial of their claims for pension, mandamus was brought. The reviewing court affirmed the dismissal of the action in mandamus. After such decision the statute remained unchanged until the enactment of the quoted section 4 \u2014 115.1 in 1969.\nClaimants urge that while Boehne is factually in point, it is not \u201clegally parallel\u201d in that there was a claim both by the widow of the married fireman subsequent to retirement and the child. Here, the widow is making no claim on this appeal, and it is argued that her claim in Boehne distorted the thinking of the court of review. Again it is said, in that case claimants sought a pension under a particular section only of the statute. The opinion, however, states that the section which excludes a widow marrying after retirement and her children was applicable to all other sections of the Firemen\u2019s Pension Act, and such section was construed to exclude recovery by either the widow or the minor child.\nFollowing oral argument, counsel filed supplemental memorandum and claimants urge that the rights of the claimants were vested upon the retirement of Londrigan, which was prior to the birth of the children. Our Supreme Court has established the rule that where participation in tire pension plan or system is elective and voluntary, the rights of the pension participants are vested. (Bardens v. Trustees of Judges Retirement System, 22 Ill.2d 56, 174 N.E.2d 168.) There has been, however, a long line of cases which hold that if participation in the pension plan was compulsory under the provisions of the statute, there was no vested right to the benefits, and that the Legislature could amend or repeal the provisions of the statute. In such cases, the rights of a participant were vested only as to those payments which had accrued and were payable. (Bergin v. Board of Trustees, 31 Ill.2d 566, 202 N.E.2d 489.) Our Courts have variously described the rights of participants in a compulsory pension plan. (Cohn, Public Employee Retirement Plan \u2014 the Nature of the Employees\u2019 Rights, 1968 U. Ill. L. F. 32 at 52, et seq.) They have, however, consistently maintained the distinction between voluntary and non-voluntary pension plans in terms of vesting.\nClaimants assert that prior to 1947, the pension contributions by firemen were entirely voluntary and urge that Londrigan\u2019s participation in the Firemen\u2019s Pension Fund was voluntary with the effect that vested rights were created as in Bardens. They cite and emphasize a portion of III. Rev. Stat. 1951, ch. 24, par. 918:\n\u201cBut no person appointed to said fire department after July 1, 1947, or reappointed in the fire department or fire service, except persons so appointed prior thereto in cities, villages, or incorporated towns which are or shall be included within fire protection districts, shall be considered a fireman within the provisions of this Act unless at the time of his first appointment therein he was between the ages of twenty-one [21] and thirty-five [35] years, and unless within three [3] months after receiving his first permanent appointment, and if reappointed also within three [3] months after his reappointment, he shall make written application to the hoard of trustees hereinafter provided for to come under the provisions of this Act and shall be found upon a medical examination of a duly licensed physician selected by said board of trustees to be then physically and mentally fit to perform duties of a fireman.\u201d\nWithout agreeing as to the effect of the language emphasized, we note that Londrigan was appointed some 20 years prior to July, 1947, and reference to the then statute, (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1927, ch. 24, par. 918), discloses that at the time of appointment and entrance into the pension system there was no provision for written application within three months of appointment, or for approval by a physical examination. That Act provided that one per cent of the salary was to be deducted and withheld and placed in the fund of the trastees. We cannot say that at the time of entering into the fire service the deceased fireman elected voluntarily to participate under the statute in effect.\nThe determination of this case is controlled by Bergin v. Board of Trustees, 31 Ill.2d 566; 202 N.E.2d 489. Bergin was a teacher within the Teachers\u2019 Retirement System, a compulsory pension plan. At the time of his employment in 1953, he designated his mother and brother to receive the benefits then authorized at the event of his death. He thereafter married and had two children, but failed to modify or revoke the designation of the beneficiaries. Four months prior to his death in 1959, the statute was amended to provide certain benefits which dependents might elect. The issue to be determined was whether the benefits should go to the designated non-dependent beneficiaries or the dependent beneficiaries as authorized or provided for under the amendment in effect.\nIt was contended that to disregard Bergin\u2019s designation of his non-dependent beneficiaries would violate his contractural rights. The court said:\n\u201cIt has long been settled that compulsory participation in a statutory pension plan confers no vested rights, thus permitting amendment, change or repeal as the legislature sees fit. (Keegan v. Board of Trustees, 412 Ill. 430; Blough v. Ekstrom, 14 Ill.App.2d 153.)\u201d\nSee also People v. Bd. of Trustees F. P. F., 220 Ill.App. 242, and People v. Retirement Board, 326 Ill. 579, 158 N.E. 220.\nThe statute in effect at the death of Francis Londrigan provided that to be eligible for pension benefits, the child \u201c[M]ust have been bom in esse before the fireman resigned or was discharged * * (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969, ch. 108%, par. 4 \u2014 115.1.) Under such provision, the claimants are excluded from the pension benefits.\nThe judgment of the Circuit Court is reversed and the order of the Trustees is affirmed.\nJudgment reversed.\nCRAVEN and SMITH, JJ\u201e concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE TRAPP" } ], "attorneys": [ "Sorting, Catron and Hardin, of Springfield, (Charles H. Northrup and Richard E. Hart, of counsel,) for appellant.", "Thomas F. Londrigan and James T. Londrigan, both of Springfield, for appellees." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "Patrick Londrigan et al., minor children of Francis P. Londrigan, Deceased, by Marjorie Londrigan, their mother and next friend, Plaintiffs- Appellees, v. Board of Trustees, Firemen\u2019s Pension Fund of Springfield, Illinois, Defendant-Appellant.\n(No. 11486;\nFourth District\nSeptember 27, 1972.\nRehearing denied October 23, 1972.\nSorting, Catron and Hardin, of Springfield, (Charles H. Northrup and Richard E. Hart, of counsel,) for appellant.\nThomas F. Londrigan and James T. Londrigan, both of Springfield, for appellees." }, "file_name": "0572-01", "first_page_order": 594, "last_page_order": 599 }