An appellate panel has ruled the widow of a River Forest police officer, who died at 45, cannot collect his pension until what would have been his 60th birthday, saying the statutory language on the matter is "plain and unambiguous."
The March 31 decision was penned by Justice Sharon Oden Johnson, with concurrence from Justices Thomas Harris and Mary Mikva, of Illinois First District Appellate Court. The ruling favored the village of River Forest in an action brought by Carrie Thornley.
Thornley's husband, Michael Thornley, was a River Forest police officer from 1997 until he resigned Nov. 11, 2015. He then worked as an investigator for the Cook County Department of Revenue, before joining Robson Forensic, a private investigation firm. He died Jan. 30, 2018, at age 45.
Michael qualified for a pension at the time he died, but needed to be at least 60 to receive it. At age 60, he would have received 42.5 percent of his "applicable" pension salary of $107,953, according to court papers.
Carrie Thornley applied for surviving spouse benefits eight days after her husband's death. The River Forest Police Pension Fund Board ruled in January 2020 that Thornley could not collect the pension until Dec. 12, 2032, when Michael would have turned 60. Thornley went to Cook County Circuit Court to overturn the ruling, but Judge Alice Conlon refused.
Both sides agreed the following clause from the Illinois Pension Code governs the issue in dispute: “Upon the death of a police officer entitled to a pension under Section 3-111, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to the pension to which the police officer was then entitled.”
Thornley argued the "triggering" event for payment was her husband's death.
"The problem with this argument, however, is that the clause is not simply 'upon the death.' The triggering event is not 'the death,' but 'the death of a police officer entitled to a pension'; and no one disputes that, at the moment of his death, he was not entitled to receive any pension money at all. He had to wait until age 60 to receive money. Plaintiff could collect no more than what the decedent was entitled to at the time of his death," Johnson pointed out.
Johnson added, "At the moment of his death, he was then entitled to nothing, so she was also entitled to nothing at that moment. Put simply, she inherits whatever his pension rights were, whenever they were payable."
Johnson noted that because Michael left the police department early, he was a "deferred" pensioner, meaning his ability to collect was deferred.
The judge observed that her ruling is "equitable," because Michael was not receiving a pension when he died, so his family was not dependent on any such funds. The family was expecting the pension when he reached 60, which they will still receive in the same time frame.
Thornley has been represented by Jerome F. Marconi Jr. & Associates, of Chicago.
The pension board has been represented by Raymond G. Garza, of Karlson, Garza & McQueary, of Bolingbrook.
The Village of River Forest has been represented by Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, which has offices in Chicago, Streator, Orland Park and Lincolnshire.