The state's highest court denied a disability claim resulting from a beer-fueled fight over Elvis Presley's birthday that ended with one New York City firefighter breaking a chair over the back of another, who then filed for disability retirement.
The New York Court of Appeals, in a 7-0 decision Tuesday, said that Robert Walsh wasn't eligible for an "accident disability retirement" because of the fight, but instead must settle for a lower-paying ordinary disability retirement. In doing so, the court upheld two lower court rulings.
Walsh cannot receive accident disability retirement payments "unless it can be determined as a matter of law on the record that the disability was the natural and proximate result of service-related accident," the court said. "That is plainly not the case here, where [Walsh's] injuries resulted solely from an altercation with a fellow firefighter rather than his performance of any job duties."
The fight occurred in December 2003 when, according to court documents, firefighters at Ladder Company 76 on Staten Island were sitting around the firehouse kitchen, drinking beer out of plastic cups and arguing about the date of Presley's birthday.
The dispute escalated and, eventually, Walsh accused a colleague of taking overtime from other firefighters. Another firefighter, Michael Silvestri, threatened to hit Walsh with a chair. Walsh remained seated with his back to Silvestri, who picked up the chair and hit Walsh, knocking him to the floor. Silvestri punched Walsh in the face until others stopped it, according to court documents.
Walsh said he suffered neurological damage that prevented him from returning to duty and filed for "accident disability retirement." The Fire Department Pension Fund board of trustees denied his claim and instead awarded him the ordinary disability retirement.
Walsh challenged the determination, saying his injuries weren't the result of a "normal foreseeable risk of the work he performed," according to court documents.
Two lower courts denied his claim. Information wasn't immediately available about the monetary difference in the two types of disability payments.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
