James v. Clackamas County

This case concerns the scope of Clackamas County’s contractual obligation to provide health insurance benefits to command officer retirees of the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. A contract between the county and command officers, including plaintiff, Neil James, required the county to use a particular fund to pay for a certain level of health insurance benefits to command officers after they retired. The contract added, however, that the obligation to pay benefits was “contingent upon the availability of sufficient funding in said fund to pay for the same.” After plaintiff retired, the…