Opinion ID: 1059753
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: application of the statutory presumption

Text: In Code § 65.2-402(B), the legislature included [h]ypertension or heart disease among those diseases that shall be presumed to be occupational diseases ... unless such presumption is overcome by a preponderance of competent evidence to the contrary. In Page v. City of Richmond, 218 Va. 844, 847, 241 S.E.2d 775, 777 (1978), we explained that the purpose of the statutory presumption is to establish by law, in the absence of evidence, a causal connection between certain occupations and death or disability resulting from specified diseases. We held that a claimant firefighter was entitled to compensation benefits because his employer had failed to overcome the statutory presumption by showing both that 1) the claimant's disease was not caused by his employment, and 2) there was a non-work-related cause of the disease. Id. at 847-48, 241 S.E.2d at 777. We again applied this two-part test in Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Servs. v. Newman, 222 Va. 535, 281 S.E.2d 897 (1981). There, a firefighter who developed sarcoidosis, a disease affecting the lungs, relied on the statutory presumption of occupational disease provided by former Code § 65.1-47.1. The employer produced medical testimony that the firefighter's employment did not cause his disease, but the employer failed to present any medical evidence of a non-work-related cause of the disabling disease. Since the employer failed to prove one of the two elements required to overcome the statutory presumption, we upheld the Commission's award of benefits. Id. at 539, 281 S.E.2d at 900; see also Berry v. County of Henrico, 219 Va. 259, 265, 247 S.E.2d 389, 392 (1978). In Doss v. Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Dep't., 229 Va. 440, 331 S.E.2d 795 (1985), we applied the two-part test to a firefighter's claim for benefits for a respiratory disease. The claimant relied on the statutory presumption and presented no evidence to counter the employer's medical evidence that 1) the claimant's job did not cause his respiratory disability, and 2) the claimant's condition was more than likely a hereditary phenomenon. Id. at 441-42, 331 S.E.2d at 795-96. We held that the Commission did not err in ruling that the employer presented sufficient evidence to overcome the statutory presumption, and that the evidence concerning a hereditary cause was sufficient to meet the Page requirement that the employer produce evidence of a non-work-related cause of the disease. Id. at 442-43, 331 S.E.2d at 796-97. In Overbey, the employer acknowledged the applicability of the two-part test by conceding that, to overcome the statutory presumption of Code § 65.2-402(B), the employer was required to establish a non-work-related cause for [the claimant's] heart condition and that job stress was not the cause. 254 Va. at 526, 492 S.E.2d at 633. The claimant contended, however, that the presumption also imposed on the employer the burden of producing a preponderance of evidence excluding the possibility that his heart disease was work related. Id. In rejecting the claimant's contention, we quoted from Doss, stating that, to overcome the statutory presumption, the employer merely must adduce competent medical evidence of a non-work-related cause of the disabling disease. Overbey, 254 Va. at 527, 492 S.E.2d at 634 (quoting Doss, 229 Va. at 442, 331 S.E.2d at 796). This quotation was made in the context of our holding that, to overcome the statutory presumption of Code § 65.2-402(B), an employer is not required to exclude the possibility that job stress may have been a contributing factor in the development of a claimant's heart disease. Id. at 527, 492 S.E.2d at 634. However, because that quotation did not discuss both parts of the two-part test applied in Page and our other decisions, some confusion has resulted regarding the viability of both parts of that test. To clarify this matter, we reaffirm the two-part test employed in Page and our other decisions cited above concerning the elements of proof necessary to overcome the statutory presumption of Code § 65.2-402(B). The claimant in Overbey relied on the statutory presumption of Code § 65.2-402(B) and did not present any medical evidence. The employer presented medical evidence showing that 1) the claimant's job was not a cause of his heart disease, and 2) the disease was caused by several risk factors, including a history of heavy cigarette smoking, elevated cholesterol, a family history of heart disease, and diabetes mellitus. Id. at 525, 492 S.E.2d at 633. Thus, our holding in Overbey effectively applied the two-part test used in Page, while rejecting the claimant's attempt to add another requirement to the employer's statutory burden for overcoming the presumption established by Code § 65.2-402(B).