PETITIONER FIREFIGHTER WAS INJURED WHEN HE BECAME DEHYDRATED DURING TRAINING; HE WAS NOT ENTITLED TO ACCIDENTAL DISABILITY RETIREMENT BENEFITS BECAUSE THE INJURY DID NOT OCCUR AS A RESULT OF AN UNEXPECTED EVENT (FIRST DEPT).
The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined petitioner NYC firefighter was not entitled to accidental retirement (ADR) benefits because he was injured performing routine duties and not when responding to an unexpected event. Petitioner suffered an injury to his leg due to dehydration during training:
ADR benefits are awardable only where the individual’s disability was the natural and proximate result of a service-related accident, i.e., “a ‘sudden, fortuitous mischance, unexpected, out of the ordinary, and injurious in impact'” … . Petitioner’s injury was the result of an incidental — not accidental — event … because the injury was sustained while petitioner was performing routine duties, not as a result of an unexpected event … . Dehydration suffered by petitioner while running in hot weather in heavy gear was a foreseeable risk of the firefighting training exercise … . Matter of Rivera v Board of Trustees of N.Y. Fire Dept., 2023 NY Slip Op 05379, First Dept 10-24-23
Practice Point: Here a NYC firefighter was injured during training, not as a result of an “unexpected event.” Therefore he was not entitled to accidental disability retirement benefits.
