An Arizona appellate court reversed a decision denying a workers compensation claim by a firefighter with brain cancer.
The Arizona Court of Appeals said Tuesday Robert Vande Krol should have been permitted to move forward with his claim even though it was filed before a 2021 comp law revision that heightened the standard to rebut a cancer presumption.
Benchmark Insurance, the insurer for Mr. Vande Krol’s employer, Superstition Fire & Medical, denied the comp claim filed in January 2021, about three months after he underwent surgery to remove the brain tumor. An administrative law judge affirmed the denial, saying the 2021 change in the law contained no retroactive component.
The appeals court found the administrative law judge improperly focused solely on the date the injury was reported to the employer and remanded the case to the administrative law judge to determine whether the insurer presented “clear and convincing evidence” to rebut the cancer presumption under the 2021 revised statute.