Officials to choose law firm for retroactive benefits case

Orange County Supervisors are set to hold a closed-door discussion today on choosing a law firm to pursue a challenge to retroactive benefits granted to sheriff’s deputies.

Supervisor John Moorlach, who represents Newport-Mesa, suggested in July the retroactive benefit may be unconstitutional and the full board agreed to look into it.

Supervisors were expected to make a final decision today on whether to pursue the matter in court, but that discussion has been postponed.

Moorlach said it wasn’t because of an outside legal opinion the board recently received on the matter, which hasn’t been made public, and declined to discuss the opinion.

“I just think while we’re still in the middle of all this that we wait until we get all the data and then I’ll comment,” he said Monday. He wasn’t sure how soon the board will publicly discuss the pension issue.

— Alicia Robinson