Proving
that a work-connected injury suffered as the result of an unexpected or
unforeseeable event is critical to the approval of an application for
accidental disability retirement benefits
Suppa v DiNapoli, 2012 NY Slip Op 08622, Appellate Division, Third Department
Suppa v DiNapoli, 2012 NY Slip Op 08622, Appellate Division, Third Department
Frank
J. Suppa, a police detective, suffered a back and knee injury when, in the
course of his conducting a surveillance of a suspect, stones on the retaining
wall on which he was standing shifted causing him to fall.
Contending that he was permanently disabled from performing his duties as a detective as the result of his fall, Suppa filed an application with the New York Employees' Retirement System for accidental disability retirement benefits and, in the alternative, an application for performance of duty disability retirement benefits.
The
Retirement System found that Suppa was permanently disabled from performing his
duties as a police detective as a result of his injuries and his application for performance of duty retirement benefits was approved.
As
to Suppa’s application for accidental disability retirement benefits, the
System denied that application, ruling that the incident leading to his
disability “did not constitute an accident within the meaning of the Retirement
and Social Security Law.”
The
Appellate Division agreed, noting that the applicant ”bears the burden of proving that
his [or her] injury was accidental” and the Retirement System’s determination to the
contrary will be sustained “if supported by substantial evidence."
An
accident within the meaning of the Retirement and Social Security Law,
explained the court, is "a sudden, fortuitous mischance which is
unexpected and out of the ordinary.”
Further,
said the Appellate Division, "an incident does not qualify as an accident
justifying the award of accidental disability retirement benefits where the
injury results from an expected or foreseeable event arising during the
performance of routine employment duties."
Suppa
had testified that he was performing a routine job duty when he was injured and
that he was aware that the stone wall that he climbed upon was made up of
"large loose boulders" that were merely piled on top of each other,
without anything holding the boulders together.
Under
these circumstances, said the court, the possibility that one of the boulders
would come loose under Suppa's weight as he was standing on it was a
foreseeable event.
Accordingly, substantial evidence supported System's determination
that the incident did not constitute an accident within the meaning of the
Retirement and Social Security Law.
The
decision is posted on the Internet at:
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