JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri appeals court has scaled back a $30 million judgment for several thousand blind residents.
The decision this week by a panel of the state appeals court's Western District says the class action lawsuit brought by blind pension fund recipients should have been subject to a five-year statute of limitations.
In March 2010, a Cole County judge ruled the state owed $18.8 million to make up for underpayments to blind Missourians from 1992 onward, plus $11.3 million of interest on that unpaid money. The appeals court said the statute of limitations bars them from recouping payments before Feb. 16, 2001, which was five years before the lawsuit was filed.
An attorney for the blind estimated Wednesday that the latest court ruling would leave them with about $23 million.