ALBANY – Several state judges have presented a bill to the Court of Claims for $780 million—the amount, plus interest, they say the state’s 1,300 judges are owed in raises and associated pension benefits for the period beginning April 1, 2005, when the judiciary first formally requested a salary hike.
The action, Maron v. State of New York, is a follow-up to the February 2010 ruling by the state Court of Appeals in Matter of Maron v. Silver, 14 NY3d 230, and two other judicial pay raise cases. The Court found that the Legislature had violated the separation of powers doctrine under the state Constitution by continually linking judges’ raises with unrelated issues, such as raises for state legislators or ethics-in-government reforms (NYLJ, Feb. 24, 2010).
