Excerpt:
One noteworthy feature of these filings is that they are regularly shrill, ranging from pissy to screechy (the Attorney General’s filing is a bit different in instead adopting the tone of royalty having to stoop to dismiss an annoying subject).
And the reason for the all too evident frustration among the various opponents is that the legal team targeting the hedge fund abuses was supposed to have gone away by now.
As the Background describes in more detail, they were supposed to be over after their initial case was dismissed by the Kentucky Supreme Court on standing grounds. Recall that the defeat came as a result of rulings in Kentucky and by the US Supreme Court that found that Federal Article 3 standing rules (which Kentucky has adopted but not other states such as California) means that defined benefit plan participants have to have suffered an actual (“particularlized”) loss, as in not be getting benefits or only be receiving reduced benefits, to be able to lodge a claim. Since the Kentucky Retirement System, even at its stunningly depleted 13% funding level, is still anticipated to pay out until 2027 (and we are supposed to believe the State of Kentucky will step up and make good on the pensions until it turns out otherwise), the defined benefit pensioners can take no action until then.
Author(s): Yves Smith
Publication Date: 12 March 2021
Publication Site: naked capitalism