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Retirement – Accidental disability – Parking lot
Where a police officer’s application for accidental disability retirement benefits was denied, that decision should be affirmed because the officer — who slipped, fell and injured himself in a police department parking lot before the start of his shift — was not on duty, was not injured as a result of his duties and is not eligible for accidental disability retirement benefits despite the po[...]
Retirement – Accidental disability
Where the Lowell Retirement Board denied a petitioner’s application to retire for accidental disability, the board’s decision should be reversed.
Retirement – Accidental disability
Where the Haverhill Retirement Board denied a petitioner’s application for accidental disability retirement, the board’s decision must be reversed because the preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that the petitioner suffered a work-related injury that left him with headaches severe enough to permanently disable him.
Retirement – Accidental disability – Heart law
Where a petitioner who suffered a heart attack filed an application to retire for accidental disability, the State Board of Retirement’s denial of the application should be affirmed because the petitioner’s evidence, taken as unrebutted and believed, did not establish that her preemployment physical examination failed to reveal any evidence of a heart condition.
Retirement – Accidental disability
Where a petitioner filed an application to retire for accidental disability based on two incidents involving a male colleague, the denial of her application should be affirmed because (1) one of the incidents preceded the petitioner’s retirement application by more than a decade and (2) the petitioner was not performing any articulable duties of her public-service position at the time of the sec[...]
Retirement – Accidental disability
Where a respondent retirement board denied a petitioner’s application for accidental disability retirement without sending him to be examined by a medical panel, that was error, as there was sufficient prima facie evidence to establish the existence of a job-related injury claim that should be sent for medical panel review.
Retirement – Accidental disability
Where the Boston Retirement Board denied an application for accidental disability retirement filed by a petitioner who suffered PTSD after confronting three men who had just shot and killed a store employee and who later testified at the grand jury and at trial, the petitioner’s application for accidental disability retirement should have been sent to a medical panel, as she presented sufficient[...]
Retirement – Accidental disability – Stress
Where a petitioner who worked as a special education paraprofessional filed an application to retire for accidental disability, a decision by the State Board of Retirement denying her application should be affirmed because the limited record presented does not establish that the stresses of the petitioner’s job were “uncommon” enough to qualify her for accidental disability retirement under [...]
Retirement – Accidental disability – EMT
Where a lieutenant for Boston Emergency Medical Services who was injured while working in the field and could no longer perform the heavy lifting required of a field EMT was granted accidental disability retirement by the Boston Retirement Board because the ability to perform heavy lifting was essential to her position, that decision should be affirmed because the position her employer offered aft[...]
Retirement – Accidental disability – EMT
Where an emergency medical technician’s application for accidental disability retirement was approved by the Boston Retirement System, that decision should be upheld because her subsequent work as a dispatcher was not an accommodation that met the standards set forth by the Supreme Judicial Court in Foresta v. Contributory Retirement Appeal Bd., 453 Mass. 669 (2009).
Retirement – Accidental disability – Firefighter
Where the Taunton Retirement Board denied a petitioner’s application to retire for accidental disability, that decision should be upheld based on the valid negative certificates of two members of a regional medical panel.
Retirement – Accidental disability – Pre-existing condition
Where the petitioner, a school cafeteria worker, aggravated her pre-existing back condition to the point of permanent disability while using a large table-mounted can opener, the petitioner has proven by a preponderance of the evidence that she is entitled to accidental disability retirement.
Verdicts & Settlements
- Injury during baby’s adenoidectomy leads to stroke
- Construction worker’s hand caught in cement mixer
- Worker trapped in freezer, dies during steam cleaning
- Pedestrian, 69, hit by motor vehicle while in crosswalk
- Four-vehicle pileup leaves driver with spinal cord injury
- Nursing home staff blamed for kidney-failure death
- Pharmacy’s late delivery blamed for patient’s death
- Man, 25, drowns after swimming lesson at fitness club
Opinion Digests
- Jurisdiction – Forum selection clause – Non-signatory
- Criminal – Responsibility
- Attorneys – Lien
- Landlord and tenant – Default judgment
- Zoning – Constructive grant – Comprehensive permit
- Fraud – False Claims Act – Settlement share
- Civil practice – Discovery – Cybersecurity
