AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

• A former City of Santa Fe firefighter filed for total disability benefits under the New Mexico Occupational Disease Disablement Law after being diagnosed with mantle cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The firefighter had a 21-year career with the fire department and later worked in other occupations before his diagnosis. He filed his complaint for benefits in June 2012, after becoming physically unable to work in January 2012 due to his illness (paras 3-5).

Procedural History

• [Not applicable or not found]

Parties' Submissions

• Worker-Appellee/Cross-Appellant: Argued that the Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) erred in calculating the rate of disability benefits owed, asserting that the calculation should take into account the date he became disabled (para 5).
• Employer-Appellant/Cross-Appellee: Contended that applying Section 52-3-32.1, which presumes certain diseases are caused by firefighting, to the worker's case would be a retroactive application of the statute. The employer also argued that the Occupational Disease Act requires firefighters to establish with medical probability that their disease was caused by firefighting, which the worker failed to do. Additionally, the employer believed it should be allowed to rebut the causation presumption with evidence that non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is not caused by firefighting (para 1).

Legal Issues

• Whether the application of Section 52-3-32.1 to the worker's case constitutes a retroactive application of the statute.
• Whether the Occupational Disease Act requires firefighters to establish with medical probability that their disease was caused by firefighting.
• Whether the employer should be allowed to rebut the causation presumption with evidence that non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is not caused by firefighting.
• Whether the WCJ erred in calculating the rate of disability benefits owed to the worker.

Disposition

• The court affirmed the WCJ's order granting the worker total disability benefits, concluding that the worker met the statutory prerequisites for the presumption that his disease resulted from his service as a firefighter.
• The court reversed the WCJ's calculation of compensation amount due to the worker and remanded for proceedings consistent with the opinion (paras 2, 22-25).

Reasons

• Cynthia A. Fry, Judge (Jonathan B. Sutin, Judge, Michael E. Vigil, Judge concurring): The court held that the worker was entitled to a presumption that his disease was the result of his years of service as a firefighter, without needing to establish a causal connection between his disease and his employment. The employer failed to present evidence that the worker’s disease resulted from conduct or activities outside his employment, thus failing to rebut this presumption. The court also concluded that applying Section 52-3-32.1 to the facts does not constitute a retroactive application of the statute. Regarding the worker's cross-appeal, the court found that the WCJ erred in calculating the compensation amount due to the worker by not considering the date the worker became disabled (paras 6-25).