On June 11, 2019, Nick argued this case in New York State Supreme Court, Arlene Bluth, presiding.
The Court decided in favor of our client, a New York City Police Officer, whose application for Accident Disability Retirement was denied because the Board of Trustees of the New York City Police Pension Fund arbitrarily concluded that his injury, sustained when his service weapon became stuck in his seat belt while responding to a domestic dispute, was not an Accident as defined. In granting our petition, the Court noted "The act of getting a service weapon caught in a seatbelt is an accident," especially in the context of a Police Officer responding to a violent domestic dispute. Justice Bluth granted our Petition, and remanded the matter solely for the calculation of benefits. The City now has the opportunity to file an appeal to the Appellate Division.
This case is an excellent example of the importance of providing a complete and detailed statement on LOD injury reports. The Court agreed with our argument that it is sudden and unexpected to have your weapon caught in a retracting seatbelt while responding to a violent domestic dispute. It was important that the disabled member prepared a detailed statement describing his injury. Had he merely indicated that he fell while exiting a department vehicle, we would likely not have prevailed in Court.
If you have questions or concerns when preparing a LOD injury report, or have other questions about filing for Accident Disability Retirement, please do not hesitate contacting us at (212) 766-5800, or by emailing Nick directly at nick@ucjlaw.com. We are disability counsel to the CEA, LBA and SBA, and have been retained by those unions to represent their members free of charge to the member. We also provide a free consultation to PBA and DEA members that would like to retain private counsel.
For more information, click here.