Layman v. State, 368 S.C. 631

Summary

The Supreme Court of South Carolina held that the former statutory TERI program created binding contractual rights for participants who enrolled before July 1, 2005. The State breached those contracts by requiring those participants to make retirement-system contributions under Act 153, and the court ordered refunds with interest. The court held that the former working-retiree statute did not itself create a binding contract but remanded individual working-retiree contract claims for factual determination; on rehearing, it decertified the class and specified refund and remand procedures.

Holdings

1. The former TERI statute created a binding contract between the State and participants who enrolled before July 1, 2005.
2. The State breached its contract by applying Act 153 to require retirement-system contributions from old TERI participants enrolled before July 1, 2005.
3. The former working-retiree statute, standing alone, did not create a binding contract preventing the State from requiring further contributions.
4. The old working-retirees' breach-of-contract claims required individualized factual determinations and had to be remanded.
5. The court did not reach the estoppel, takings, or due-process issues because its holding that the old TERI statute created a binding contract resolved the relevant dispute.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the former TERI statutory provisions created a binding contract that prohibited the State from requiring participants enrolled before July 1, 2005, to make retirement-system contributions.
2. Whether the former working-retiree statute created a binding contract prohibiting the State from altering the exemption from further contributions.
3. Whether the State was estopped from requiring the challenged contributions.
4. Whether Act 153 constituted an unconstitutional taking under the South Carolina or United States Constitution.
5. Whether Act 153 violated the Due Process Clause of the South Carolina or United States Constitution.

Disposition

remanded