The Associated Press

PORTLAND - One of the last legal battles over a major reform in the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System in 2003 may be over.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday the state could update the mortality tables used to calculate benefits beginning in 2004 as ordered by the Legislature.

Attorneys and state officials said the ruling means PERS will not have to pay any additional money to retirees in this case.

The case grew out of a 1974 sex discrimination lawsuit against the state over the difference between the way benefits were calculated for men and women.

The lawsuit was settled in 1978 with a consent decree by U.S. District Judge Gus Solomon. But the 2003 PERS reforms resulted in a new lawsuit challenging whether the decree could be modified.