Illinois Appellate Court, First District, November 15, 2024
The Illinois Appellate Court, in an unpublished opinion, reversed the Pension Board’s denial of a duty disability pension and determined the Plaintiff’s disability was caused by a duty related incident.
The Plaintiff sustained two injuries to his left ankle on duty, the first was while responding to an elevator alarm when he sprained his left ankle stepping off the fire engine. Upon returning to work under threat of termination, the plaintiff reinsured his ankle while lifting a 300 pound patient from a bathtub. The plaintiff underwent two surgeries on his ankle and was later diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. The record contained the three IME reports of the Board which were all consistent in finding the plaintiff was disabled, and that the disability was likely caused by the two work related incident. The record also contained surveillance video’s of plaintiff which showed him doing manual labor on a farm, riding machinery including an ATV, and lifting heavy bags without noticeable difficulty. The Board relied heavily upon this evidence to deny plaintiff’s duty disability pension and find the plaintiff was not truthful.
In reversing the decision of the Board, the Court found, the evidence overwhelmingly supported the plaintiff’s 2018 on-duty injuries were a contributing factor in his disability. The Board failed to give weight to the three independent medical evaluations, which all established a causal connection, and there was no evidence of any intervening off-duty injury or alternative cause of plaintiff’s disability. The Court found the Board’s credibility determinations were mere speculation were there was no evidence demonstrating plaintiff lied or concealed any information and no medical opinion attributed the plaintiff’s disability to farming activities. Because the Board’s denial of duty disability lacked competent evidence in the record to support its findings, the Appellate Court reversed the Board’s denial of a duty disability and found the evidence showed the work injuries were a contributing factor the plaintiff’s disability.
The key point to remember in deciding disability claims is that any determination made by a pension board must be supported by competent evidence in the record. A Board cannot speculate as to the cause of a disability.
(C) Radja Collins Law 2025
