Chisom

Appellants are retired public employees and members of the Fresno County Employees’ Retirement Association (FCERA). From 2001 to 2009, if a member of FCERA qualified for a non-service-connected disability retirement, the amount of his or her monthly retirement allowance was calculated based on an “enhanced” benefits formula that exceeded the formula provided in the statutes governing such matters as found in the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (Gov. Code, § 31450 et seq.; CERL). The rationale for using the enhanced benefits formula was an interoffice letter by the chief deputy county counsel stating that, in his opinion, a 2000 settlement agreement (the settlement agreement), which resolved certain claims against the County of Fresno (the County), FCERA, and others, relating to retirement benefits, was intended to include an enhancement of disability retirement benefits. The letter advised that disability retirement allowances should be increased according to a formula attached to the letter. FCERA followed that advice, even though the settlement agreement had enhanced only “service” retirement benefits and was silent as to disability retirement benefits. In 2009,…