Opinion

Guidal v. Board of Trustees

  • 275 A.D.2d 458
  • 713 N.Y.S.2d 130
  • 2000 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8937
Court
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
Filed
Aug 28, 2000
Status
Published
Cited by
3 cases
Authority
More cited than 63.9%

The opinion

—In a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 to review a determination of the Board of Trustees of the New York City Fire Department, Article 1-B Pension Fund, dated July 20, 1995, denying the petitioner’s application for an accident disability pension and awarding him ordinary disability, the appeal is from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Vaughan, J.), dated December 10, 1998, which denied the petition and dismissed the proceeding.

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.

Where the Board of Trustees of the New York City Fire Department, Article 1-B Pension Fund (hereinafter the Board) denies an application for accidental disability benefits as a consequence of a tie vote, the Board’s determination can be set aside on judicial review only if it can be concluded as a matter of law that the petitioner’s disability was the natural and proximate result of a service-related injury (see, Matter of Meyer v Board of Trustees, 90 NY2d 139, 144-145 ; Matter of Canfora v Board of Trustees, 60 NY2d 347 ; Matter of Deichler v Board of Trustees, 257 AD2d 574 ). If there is any credible evidence that the disability was not caused by service-related injuries, the Board’s determination must stand (see, Matter of Meyer v Board of Trustees, supra). Only where the circumstances allow but one inference may the court decide as a matter of law what inference should be drawn (see, Matter of Rivera v New York City Fire Dept., 232 AD2d 420 ; Matter of Radigan v O’Connell, 304 NY 396, 397 ; Matter of Hodges v Board of Trustees, 203 AD2d 365 ).

Applying these principles, the petitioner failed to establish, *459 as a matter of law, a causal connection between his line-of-duty accidents and his disabling condition since the medical evidence permitted more than one inference to be drawn as to the cause of his disabling condition (see, Matter of Wesarg v Board of Trustees, 246 AD2d 601 ; Matter of Fagan v Board of Trustees, 185 AD2d 341 ). Accordingly, there is no basis to disturb the Board’s determination. O’Brien, J. P., Sullivan, Altman and H. Miller, JJ., concur.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.