No. 23-388

Richard W. Como v. Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement Board

Lower Court: Pennsylvania
Docketed: 2023-10-12
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: civil-rights criminal-conviction due-process excessive-fines excessive-punishment fourteenth-amendment pension pension-forfeiture public-employee retirement-law
Latest Conference: 2023-11-17
Question Presented (from Petition)

1) Did the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania err and did the Pennsylvania Supreme Court err
in not granting Allocatur when the Public-School Employees' Retirement Board forfeited Mr. Como's entire
pension of approximately 44 years, pursuant to 43 P.S.
1312 and 1313, due to his criminal convictions for theft
(18 Pa. C.S.A. 3927) that occurred in 2012 and 2013, for
which he was convicted in 2018, when he was the Superintendent of the Coatesville Area School District
during the years of 2005 through 2013? Should the
remainder of Mr. Como's pension beginning in 1969
through 2005, when he worked at different schools as
a coach, teacher, assistant principal, and principal and
where there was no misconduct for these 34 years, be
given to him since his pension was validly earned and
had nothing to do with this misconduct in 2012 and
2013 when he was Superintendent and the Superintendent was a different position since he no longer had
civil service protection?

2) Did the Commonwealth Court and the State
Retirement Board err by adopting a contractual analysis indicating that the entire pension should be forfeited when this was extremely excessive and had no
relationship to the actual damages?

3) Did this forfeiture violate the Fourteenth
Amendment of the United States Constitution by forfeiting Mr. Como's pension of 34 years when he was a
coach, teacher, assistant principal and principal, when
the criminal conduct only occurred after he became Superintendent in 2005 and then only in the years of
2012 and 2013? Was his 34 years of validly earned pension where there was misconduct, taken without due
process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment of the
United States Constitution?

4) Does this massive forfeiture result in excessive fines under the Eighth Amendment of the United
States Constitution?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Did the Commonwealth Court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court err in forfeiting Mr. Como's entire pension due to criminal convictions as Superintendent?

Docket Entries

2023-11-20
Petition DENIED.
2023-11-01
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/17/2023.
2023-10-25
Waiver of right of respondent PA PSERB to respond filed.
2023-10-10
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 13, 2023)

Attorneys

PA PSERB
Sean Andrew KirkpatrickOffice of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth, Respondent
Richard Como
Samuel C. StrettonLaw Office of Samuel C. Stretton, Esquire, Petitioner