By AARON SANDERFORD
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — The State of Nebraska has settled a 12-year lawsuit involving more than 400 current and former State Troopers, agreeing to pay them a combined $18.75 million.
Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Gov. Jim Pillen announced the settlement Thursday with Gary Young, a lawyer representing the State Troopers Association of Nebraska.
The Troopers sued the state in 2011 after the Legislature changed the contribution rates Troopers made to their pensions after signing contracts for lower contributions when hired.
Hilgers called the settlement “historic.” Pillen was “excited to get this lawsuit behind us … and move on.” Both said they wanted State Patrol Troopers to feel supported.
Investigator Dan Fiala, the president of the Troopers’ union who is based out of Grand Island, said the settlement is “a huge morale booster” for people who worried it might never end.
“It’s just a huge confidence booster for everybody,” Fiala said, adding that Troopers’ families needed that money. “This will let them get caught up. It will make living a little bit easier.”
According to the lawsuit, some of the Troopers who sued had signed contracts saying they would contribute as little as 8% of their pay toward their pensions and ended up paying as much as 19%.
Today, most Troopers contribute 16% of their pay toward pensions. New hires to pay 17%.
The lawsuit covers 28 years of payroll, back to 1995.
Hilgers, the state’s top prosecutor, said the case was ready to head to trial. That, he said, could have taken another three years and risked costing taxpayers more in the end.
“This is a very good result for the State of Nebraska,” Hilgers said. “This takes away the cloud of uncertainty for both sides and gives us the opportunity to close the chapter and unify.”
The typical civil case lasts a year or two, he said. This one started under former Gov. Dave Heineman and stretched through both of former Gov. Pete Ricketts’ terms.
Several of the litigants have since died, Hilgers and Young said, and one of the judges involved in the case has retired. Young and Hilgers credited Pillen for changing the tone.
Hilgers said Pillen was receptive to settlement negotiations. After Pillen took office in January, he negotiated a 22% raise for Troopers, whose pay had trailed that of competitors.
Pillen said he was “proud” to support law enforcement. He said people who put their lives on the line for others know to watch what people do, not what they say.
“We Nebraskans don’t say thank you enough for what you and your team do to put yourselves in harm’s way,” he said. “Twelve years — for crying out loud, it’s time.”