Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185. 8 . This suit alleged that the employer

...Petersburg Police Pension Board of Trustees (collectively, the City) appeal a final summary judgment finding that former police officers who left service prior to vesting in the City's police pension fund were entitled to a refund of their contributions to the fund. We affirm. Sections 185.19, 185.08, and 185.35, Florida Statutes (2000), are central to the parties' dispute....

...which, in the opinion of the division [of retirement of the department of management services], meets the minimum benefits and minimum standards set forth in this chapter, the board of trustees of the pension plan ... may: (a) Place the income from the premium tax in s. 185.08 in such pension plan for the sole and exclusive use of its police officers ... where it shall become an integral part of that pension plan and shall be used to pay extra benefits to the police officers included in that pension plan; or (b) May place the income from the premium tax in s. 185.08 in a separate supplemental plan to pay extra benefits to the police officers ... participating in such separate supplemental plan. The premium tax income provided in section 185.08 authorizes a State excise tax on casualty insurance premiums collected by insurance companies. The tax may amount to .85 percent of the gross premium receipts from casualty insurance policyholders within a municipality's boundaries. § 185.08(1). The excise tax is payable annually after the municipality's passage of an ordinance assessing and imposing it. § 185.08(3); cf....

references by respondents, attention is called to F.S. § 185.08, F.S.A., which provides in part: “(1) Each incorporated

...If the 1% premium tax proceeds had not been paid into the plan the contribution from the city would have been $399,000 instead of $296,000. The circuit court apparently based the judgment under review upon a finding that the appellant city was using the funds it *368 received pursuant to the tax levied on authority of § 185.08 F.S....

...One of said standards is provided in § 185.35(1) (j): “Commencing on July 1, 1964, the municipality shall contribute to the plan annually an amount which together with the contributions from the police officers, the amount derived from the premium tax provided in § 185.08 and other income sources will be sufficient to meet the normal cost of the plan and to fund the actuarial deficiency over a period not longer than forty years.” Thus it seems clear that to determine the amount for which the city is liable...

...es: “When a municipality has a policemen’s retirement plan which meets the standards set forth in subsection (1), the board of trustees of the pension plan or the official pension committee or agency, may place the income from the premium tax in § 185.08 in its existing pension fund for the sole and exclusive use of their policemen (or for firemen and policemen where included), or may use said income to pay extra benefits to the policemen.” If the trustees elect to place the income from t...

...In 1953, the Legislature enacted statutory provisions for police (and, later, firefighter) pensions. The statute authorized cities to assess an excise tax on casualty insurance for property within the city, the revenues from which could go to the existing police officer retirement trust fund. See now § 185.08, Fla....

...Finally, the legislature has specified that municipal participation in the premium tax program is not mandated but is instead purely voluntary: "A municipality may revoke its participation under this chapter by rescinding the legislative act, or ordinance which assesses and imposes taxes authorized in s. 185.08, and by furnishing a certified copy of such legislative act, or ordinance to the division....

liability in federal court pursuant to 46 App. U.S.C. § 185.8 That Section states: [t]he vessel owner, within