Garietz

Plaintiffs, as individuals and on behalf of all others similarly situated, appeal from a judgment denying their petition for writ of mandate and declaring that the full amount of an award of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeals Board (hereafter WCAB) for permanent disability or for a death benefit, without any reduction for attorneys’ fees allowed therein, may be legally credited and offset against a disability retirement or death allowance granted to the same individual for the same injury, illness or death, by defendants and respondents, the City of Oakland, its auditor and the members of the city police and fire retirement board (hereafter collectively referred to as City).

Appellants, Garietz, Leitz and Dietz, are former members of the police and fire departments, who sustained a disability in the course of employment, and subsequently applied for and received benefits under the California compensation laws (Lab. Code, § 3201 et seq.); appellant Miller is the chairman of the Police and Fire Co-ordinating Council, an unincorporated association composed of delegates from a number of other unincorporated associations that include in their membership almost all uniformed…