Former Chattanooga Police Chief Bobby Dodd has sued the city of Chattanooga and the Chattanooga Fire and Police Pension Fund over his pension after he served over 25 years with the city police.
The lawsuit was filed in Chancery Court by attorneys Jerry Tidwell and Adam Izell.
The suit says former Chief Dodd opted for a plan that would have half of his pension go to his surviving spouse should he die first.
It says at the time there was no charge for selecting that option, But later, unbeknownst to him, a five percent charge was added.
The suit says, "When the Plaintiff was first employed by the City of Chattanooga, election of the joint survivor option cost the employee nothing out of their pension benefits. This was the case during the Plaintiff' s entire period of employment up until shortly before he retired. This option allows for 50% of the pension benefits to go to the surviving spouse at no cost to the employee. For an employee to be eligible for this benefit cost free that employee must have been employed by the City prior to 1992. If an employee failed to elect one of the several options under the pension plan, the plan automatically defaulted to the joint survivor option. Some employees called it the 'no option option'.
"The pension board changed this provision unbeknownst to the Plaintiff requiring a 5% fee be charged out of the employee' s monthly pension benefit for the joint survivor option unless the employee had 25 years of service. This results in a reduction in the Plaintiff' s monthly pension benefit of 5% less than his formula for his full pension. The Plaintiff retired shortly after this change without being aware of it and was only a few months from 25 years' employment at the time of his retirement. At the time of retirement, no employee or agent of the City or the Pension Fund advised him of the costs associated with electing this option.
"The Plaintiff relied on the City' s offer of the pension benefit as it was constituted at his employment as part of his employment agreement with them. The pension benefit at the time he was hired and throughout his service until shortly before his retirement included the joint survivor option without reduction in pension benefit."
The suit asks that the judge order that he be entitled to receive his pension without a reduction for his selection of the joint survivor option.
On the amount of his time with the city, former Chief Dodd said, "The lawsuit is referring to the time the change was made. I didn't have 25 years in when the pension board decided to change the plan (Jan 2013). I had 24 years and 7 months, so I couldn't retire for a few months when they took the option away.
"But I didn't retire until December 2013, with 25.5 years."