State of New York

Supreme Court, Appellate Division

Third Judicial Department

Decided and Entered: March 26, 2015 518656 

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In the Matter of the Claim of

DELORES WILSON,

Respondent,

v MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

YONKERS RACEWAY/EMPIRE CITY

et al.,

Appellants.

WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD,

Respondent.

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Calendar Date: February 20, 2015

Before: Lahtinen, J.P., Garry, Rose and Devine, JJ.

__________

Stewart, Greenblatt, Manning & Baez, Syosset (Peter M.

DeCurtis of counsel), for appellants.

Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, New York City

(Donya Fernandez of counsel), for Workers' Compensation Board,

respondent.

__________

Devine, J.

Appeal from a decision of the Workers' Compensation Board,

filed June 28, 2013, which ruled that claimant sustained an

accidental injury and awarded workers' compensation benefits.

Claimant began working for the employer in 2008. She

stopped working in 2010 and filed a claim for workers'

compensation benefits alleging that she developed breathing

problems due to exposure to environmental irritants at her
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workplace. The Workers' Compensation Board ultimately ruled,

after a mandatory full Board review, that claimant had sustained

an accidental injury and established the claim. The employer and

its workers' compensation carrier (hereinafter collectively

referred to as the employer) now appeal.

We affirm. "To establish an accidental work-related

condition, claimant was required to demonstrate by competent

medical evidence that her condition resulted from unusual

environmental conditions or events assignable to something

extraordinary at her workplace" (Matter of Adams v Univera Health

Care/Excellus, 26 AD3d 587, 588 [2006] [internal quotation marks

and citations omitted]; see Matter of Mazayoff v A.C.V.L. Cos.,

Inc., 53 AD3d 890, 891 [2008]). Claimant presented the report

and testimony of her treating allergist who opined that claimant

suffers from causally-related chronic hypersentivity pneumonitis

that can develop from exposure to moldy hay or contaminants from

air conditioning vents. Claimant testified that she never had

any respiratory problems prior to 2008, and the record reflects

that claimant worked in a building that was 60 yards away from

horse barns on the employer's property. The record also reflects

that claimant and other employees had periodically complained

about black particles that came out of the air conditioning vent. 

In contrast, the employer's medical expert opined that

claimant suffers from centrilobular emphysema caused by smoking,

although he acknowledged that claimant's serology was positive

for exposure to antigens that cause hypersensitivity pneumonitis. 

Further, the employer's expert noted that claimant, who was 43

years old at the time she stopped working, tested negative for

alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic disorder that can cause

premature emphysema. "According proper deference to the Board's

resolution of conflicting medical evidence and evaluation of

witness credibility, we find the Board's conclusion to be

supported by substantial evidence and decline to disturb it"

(Matter of Duncan v John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 54 AD3d 1124, 1126

[2008] [citations omitted]; see Matter of Sandell v Frito Lay,

Inc., 112 AD3d 1242, 1244 [2013]).
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Lahtinen, J.P., Garry and Rose, JJ., concur.

ORDERED that the decision is affirmed, without costs.

ENTER:

Robert D. Mayberger

Clerk of the Court