Opinion ID: 765624
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiency of evidence of breathing impairment

Text: 64 DOCS argues that Muller cannot be regarded as being impaired in his breathing because the evidence established that he was active outside of work at Midstate, participated in many sports and worked as a member of the military reserves. In addition to the facts recounted above, Muller's evidence regarding his breathing impairment included the following: The jury was presented with testimony of a medical expert and two doctors who had treated Muller's asthma, all of whom testified that Muller's asthma could be triggered by any number of environmental irritants. Muller's medical expert testified that Muller's lung function diminished 45% when a control solution of saline was introduced, which indicates that any irritants could be expected to have very significant decreases in this person's lung capacity. Moreover, this expert stated that the test results were consistent with the significant component of underlying reactive airways disease with a clearly reversible component, and supports a diagnosis of environmental sensitivities that the patient had demonstrated by history to cigarette exposure in the workplace. Muller's evidence included only one encounter with an irritant that triggered an asthmatic episode outside of work. Muller testified that, while on military reserve duty, he had a reaction to a petroleum-based smoke used by the military. Other than that, Muller testified that he felt pretty good outside of work when he used his inhalers. 65 We conclude that Muller's proof of his breathing impairment was deficient. As the Supreme Court clarified in Sutton, we must evaluate Muller's disability with reference to the applicable corrective measures, in this case, his inhalers and other medications. See 119 S. Ct. at 2143. Thus, the jury was precluded from speculating about how severe Muller's asthma would be but for his medications. Other than Muller's difficulties while at work at Midstate, what we are left with is testimony that Muller was physically active outside of work, that he could potentially have severe reactions to environmental irritants, and that, on one occasion, he did have such a reaction while working at a military base. 66 We find that this case is similar to Heilweil, in which we found that the plaintiff's ability to breathe restricted her only in a limited way, and did not bar her from exercising. 32 F.3d at 723. Despite Heilweil's respiratory problems while working at her place of employment and her asthma, this Court concluded that Heilweil was not substantially limited in her ability to breathe. See id. Although we recognize that Muller presented evidence that his asthma was allergen-induced, for which exercise is a prescribed treatment, we believe that his substantial physical activity without encountering debilitating allergens cuts against his claim of disability. Simply put, there is not enough evidence of off-the-job breathing problems to find a substantial limitation of that life activity. 67 Nor is Muller's expert testimony alone enough to establish a substantial impairment. Muller's expert presented evidence of the nature of the condition and opined that irritants might be expected to produce an adverse effect on Muller's breathing. Without actual evidence of difficulty outside of work, however, we will not speculate on the severity of a disability or the types of allergens that Muller might encounter on a daily basis. 68