Robert Davis, et al v. Wilson County

We granted this appeal to determine whether county employees had a vested interest after retirement in health care benefits provided under resolutions passed by the Wilson County Commission. The chancellor found that the appellants had a vested interest in health care benefits because they were county employees who met the requirement of ten years of service and eight years of continuous service with Wilson County under a 1992 resolution. The Court of Appeals reversed the chancellor's judgment, concluding that the health care benefits were welfare benefits in which the appellants did not have a vested interest. After reviewing the record and applicable authority, we hold that the health care benefits were welfare benefits that did not vest automatically and that there was no clear and express language in the resolutions that the health care benefits were intended to vest or could not be terminated. We therefore affirm the Court of Appeals' judgment.