Fowler v. Guerin, No. 16-35052 (9th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this Case
Washington public school teachers filed a class action to order the Director of DRS to return interest that was allegedly skimmed from their state-managed retirement accounts. The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's denial of a stipulated motion to certify a class and dismissal of the action as prudentially unripe. The panel held that the district court erred in dismissing the teachers' takings claim as prudentially unripe because DRS's withholding of the interest accrued on the teachers' accounts constitutes a per se taking to which the prudential ripeness test in Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172 (1985), did not apply.
In regard to the Director's alternative grounds for summary judgment, the panel held that plaintiffs stated a takings claim for daily interest withheld by the Director; the panel clarified that the core property right recognized in Schneider v. California Department of Corrections, 151 F.3d 1194 (9th Cir. 1988), covered interest earned daily, even if payable less frequently; plaintiffs' takings claim was not barred by issue preclusion or by the Rooker-Feldman doctrine; and the takings claim was not foreclosed by the Eleventh Amendment. The panel also held that the district court erred in denying the motion for class certification. Accordingly, the panel remanded for further proceedings.
Court Description: Class Action / Constitutional Law / Ripeness The panel reversed the district court’s denial of a stipulated motion to certify a class and dismissal, as prudentially unripe, of an action brought by Washington public school teachers seeking the return of interest allegedly skimmed from their retirement accounts. Plaintiffs brought this class action seeking an order that the Director of the Washington State Department of Retirement Systems return interest that was allegedly skimmed from their state-managed retirement accounts. Specifically, plaintiffs alleged a takings claim in their suit in federal court that the Director violated the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments by withholding some of the daily interest earned on their accounts. The panel held that the district court erred in dismissing the plaintiffs’ takings claim as prudentially unripe. The panel held that the Director’s withholding of the interest accrued on the plaintiffs’ accounts constituted a per se taking as to which Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172 (1985)’s prudential ripeness test did not apply. The panel also held that the plaintiffs’ taking claim was per se because the Director’s withholding of interest earned on funds in interest-bearing accounts was a direct appropriation of private property.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on March 13, 2019.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.