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Court of Appeals Oral Arguments

Revised and updated on June 23, 2016

Please click here to download the appellate courtroom audio of “15-6019 Charles T Evans vs Tennessee Valley Authority Retirement System TVA” from June 14, 2016.  The attorney for the plaintiffs speaks first, followed by the attorney for TVARS, followed by the attorney with TVA’s OGC.  The appellate court judges seemed very interested and asked many questions.  The oral arguments lasted over twice as long as scheduled.  All sides seemed to agree that the district court erred in finding that TVA retirees and employees did not have the right of judicial review. 

I was very impressed with plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Wall who spoke first and made some clarifications at the end.  I believe he did an excellent job answering the judges questions and citing case law to support his arguments.  He also seemed to have a real mastery of the TVARS rules.

TVA’s OGC attorney Edward Meade speaks about the “apparently inconsistent positions of the TVARS board.”  He begins to speak at about 41 minutes.  Click here to see the follow-up letter and attachments that TVA filed with the court on June 17, 2016.  TVA states that the appellate court should not defer to TVARS’ litigation position that COLAs are vested benefits because of the amendments the TVARS board passed on May 9, 2016.  These amendments reduce COLAs in perpetuity in full accord with the 2009 COLA reductions.  This is the vote in which Allen Stokes switched his position on COLAs being vested and voted with Brian Child, Tammy Wilson and John Hoskins.  These are the amendments that Suzan Bowman, TVARA Valleywide President, writes about in the June 2016 TVARA newsletter:  "Overall, the changes are not going to have significant impact on TVA retirees."  Click here to view the newsletter.

I understand that it typically takes 3 to 4 months for an appeals court decision to be reached after oral arguments, but it could come sooner or take years.  The appeals court could rule on various merits of the case, or could send the case back to the district court for judicial review.

On June 22, 2016, plaintiffs' attorney Michael Wall filed a response in opposition to TVA's letter.  Click here to view the response.

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