Court Opinion

ID: 9916474
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-01-10 01:07:28.604824+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:37.759683
License: Public Domain

Quinn v Board of Trustees of the Fire Dept. of the City
                  of N.Y. Pension Fund
               2024 NY Slip Op 30013(U)
                     January 3, 2024
           Supreme Court, New York County
        Docket Number: Index No. 151624/2023
                Judge: Arthur F. Engoron
Cases posted with a "30000" identifier, i.e., 2013 NY Slip
 Op 30001(U), are republished from various New York
 State and local government sources, including the New
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                       publication.
                                                                                                  INDEX NO. 151624/2023
  NYSCEF DOC. NO. 58                                                                      RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/03/2024

                            SUPREME COURT OF THE STA TE OF NEW YORK
                                      NEW YORK COUNTY
           PRESENT:        HON.ARTHURF.ENGORON                               PART                               37
                                                                Justice
           ------n••------------·----------------------------X              INDEX NO.            151624/2023
            MICHELE QUINN,
                                                                            MOTION DATE           02/17/2023
                                             Petitioner,
                                                                            MOTION SEQ. NO.           001
                                       -v-
            THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT
            OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK PENSION FUND, THE NEW                      DECISION + ORDER ON
            YORK CITY FIRE PENSION FUND, LAURA KAVANAGH,                             MOTION

                                             Respondents.

           -------------------------------------
           The following e-fHed documents, listed by NYSCEF document number (Motion 001} 2, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22,
           23,24,25,26, 27,28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37,38, 39, 40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49, 50,
           51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57
           were read on this motion to/for                           ARTICLE 78 (BODY OR OFFICER)

           Upon the foregoing documents, and for the reasons stated herein below, the petition is granted as
           follmvs.

           Background
           On January 25, 2023, petitioner, Michelle Quinn, commenced this Article 78 Special Proceeding
           seeking: (1) to annul the October 26, 2022 determination of respondent The Board of Trustees of
           the Fire Department of the City of New York Pension Fund (the "Board") that denied a World
           Trade Center ("WTC") line-of-duty death benefit pension arising from the post-surgery
           accidental drug overdose death of petitioner's husband, retired firefighter Peter A. Quinn
           ("Quinn"), and (2) directing that respondents grant the application. NYSCEF Doc. No. 1.

           The parties do not dispute that Quinn was a uniformed member of the FDNY who retired in 2015
           with a line-of-duty disability pension, pursuant to New York Administrative Code§ 13-
           353. l(l)(a) (the "WTC Bill"). A December 11, 2014 report from New York Fire Department
           Pension fund Subchapter II Medical Board recommending Quinn's retirement found that he was
           "permanently disabled with reactive airways disease and asthma ... he has had symptoms for
           many years which has always been called bronchitis but has required prednisone on multiple
           occasions." NYSCEF Doc. No. 5. The Board also noted that Quinn had "gained about 150 lbs.
           over the past several years which he describes [sic] to his use of prednisone." Id.

           On January 15, 2019, Quinn was admitted to the Hospital for Special Surgery ("HSS") for a total
           replacement of his left knee apparently due to his underlying obesity. The day after the surgery,
           according to HSS medical records, a doctor "educated" Quinn about pain management and its
           risks, especially ""in the setting of' obstructive sleep apnea ("OSA"), a recognized WTC

            151624/2023 QUINN, MICHELE vs. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT OF        Page 1 of 4
            THE CITY OF NEW YORK PENSION FUND ET AL
            Motion No. 001

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                                                                                                  INDEX NO. 151624/2023
  NYSCEF DOC. NO. 58                                                                      RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/03/2024

           condition of which Quinn suffered. NYSCEF Doc. No. 7. On January 20, 2019, Quinn was
           discharged and given various prescriptions, including for morphine and for a naloxone rescue kit
           in case of an overdose. NYSCEF Doc. No. 8.

           On the morning of January 21, 2019, Quinn was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead.
           NYSCEf Doc. No. 9. An autopsy report detennined that his death was an accident caused by
           "acute mixed drug intoxication'' from "medication ingestion" and "acute bronchopneumonia."
           NYSCEF Doc. 10.

           On March 12, 2020, petitioner applied to the Board for a line-of-duty pension. NYSCEF Doc.
           No. 11. On October 9, 2020, the Board denied petitioner's application, noting that, while Quinn
           had been disabled due to his pu1monary health, "it is not clear whether [Quinn] meets the criteria
           for ta] Linc-Of-Duty pension, as it is not clear what his actual cause of death was, or the
           circumstances that surrounded his death." NYSCEF Doc. No. 12. The Board also expressed
           "our hope and expectation that further information \Vill be made available to us that will help us
           in understanding FF Quinn's psychological state of mind in the years of his retirement and at
           around the time of his death." Id.

           On May 28, 2021, petitioner submitted to the Board a toxicology case record review by Dr.
           Richard Stripp, Ph.D, who had found, to a "reasonable degree of toxicological certainty,'' that
           Quinn "experienced respiratory complications as a result of consuming morphine and
           oxycodone. His health status and previous history of respiratory disease and sleep apnea greatly
           increased the risk of a fatal accidental overdose from opioid analgesics." NYSCEF Doc. No. 13.
           Dr. Stripp also found that suicide was unlikely as Quinn's

                          postmortem drug levels reflect an accidental overdose in a high-
                          risk situation that was precipitated by previous physical health
                          conditions as a result of working recovery/rescue operations at the
                          \VTC site. Had it not been for Mr. Quinn's history of respiratory
                          disease (RADS), pneumonia and sleep apnea, it is unlikely that
                          doses of these drugs would have been fatal in a tolerant individual.

           Despite Dr. Stripp's report, the Board continued unanimously to deny petitioner's applications
           based on what they did not know (i.e.; where the specific medications Quinn overdosed might
           have come from, what happened in the hours after Quinn was discharged from HSS, what his
           state of mind was after retirement) and the fact that the autopsy report listed acute mixed drug
           intoxication as the cause of death, which is not a qualifying condition for the purposes of a WTC
           death benefit. NYSCEF Doc. Nos. 14, 15, 16.

           WTC Presumption
           Pursuant to the WTC Bill, an eligible firefighter's disability or death as a result of a qualifying
           WTC condition, as defined in Retirement and Social Security Law§ 2 (36), is "presumptive
           evidence that it was incurred in the performance and discharge of duty and the natural and
           proximate result of an accident not caused by such member's own willful negligence, unless the
           contrary be proved by competent evidence" (the "WTC Presumption'').

            15162412023 QUINN, MICHELE vs. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT OF       Page 2 of 4
            THE CITY OF NEW YORK PENSION FUND ET Al
            Motion No. 001

                                                          2 of 4
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                                                                                                  INDEX NO. 151624/2023
  NYSCEF DOC. NO. 58                                                                     RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/03/2024

           Arguments
           Petitioner now moves to annul the Board's decisions, arguing that the Board arbitrarily and
           capricious1y failed to take into account the \VTC Presumption, as Quinn meets the statutory
           requirements (he worked at the WTC site and suffered from recognized qualifying WTC
           conditions) and the ultimate cause of his accidental overdose, if not the overdose itself, was
           directly related to his qualifying WTC conditions.

           In opposition respondent argues, inter alia, that the instant denials were neither arbitrary nor
           capricious, as the WTC Presumption does not apply when, as here, credible evidence shows that
           a party did not die of a qualifying condition. Respondent argues that the autopsy report and "the
           Medical Board's expert opinion constitutes credible evidence."

           Discussion
           In Matter of Bltchatchi v Bd. of Trustees of New York City Police Dept. Pension Fund, 20 NY3d
           268 (2012 ), the Court of Appeals addressed the WTC Presumption, in the identical context of
           NYPD first responders, and found:

                          The legislature created the WTC presumption to benefit first
                          responders because of the evidentiary difficulty in establishing that
                          non-trauma conditions, such as cancer, could be traced to exposure
                          to the toxins present at the WTC site in the aftermath of the
                          destruction. l lence, unlike ordinary [Accident Disability
                          Retirementj claimants, first responders need not submit any
                          evidence--credible or otherwise--of causation to obtain the
                          enhanced benefits. Nevertheless, the legislature did not create a
                          per se rule mandating [Accident Disability Retirement] benefits for
                          all eligible responders. Rather, it provided that a pension fund
                          could rebut the presumption by "competent evidence." Under this
                          carefully calibrated framework, we believe that the competent
                          evidence contemplated by the WTC presumption may be equated
                          with the well-established credible evidence standard, provided that
                          the pension fund bears the burden of comingfonvard with
                          affirmative evidence to disprove causation .

           .kl at 281-82 ( emphasis added),
           Credible evidence "is evidence that proceeds from a credible source and reasonably tends to
           support the proposition for which it is offered.'' Matter of Meyer v Bd. of Trustees of the New
           York City Fire Dept.. Art. 1-B Pension Fund by Safir, 90 NY2d 139, 147 (1997) (citations
           omitted). Furthermore, "it must be evidentiary in nature and not merely a conclusion oflaw, nor
           mere conjecture or unsupported suspicion," Id.

           Here, there is no question that Quinn was at the WTC site and disabled as the proximate result of
           his line-of-duty exposure. But see Brennan v Kellv, 111 AD3d 407,408 (1st Dept 2013)
           (affirming respondent's denial of WTC benefits when petitioner offered no credible evidence of
           presence at w·rc site). Quinn's disabilities included reactive airway disease, asthma, and

            15162412023 QUINN, MICHELE vs. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT OF        Page 3 of4
            THE CITY OF NEW YORK PENSION FUND ET AL
            Motion No. 001

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  NYSCEF DOC. NO. 58                                                                          RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/03/2024

            obstructive sleep apnea, all recognized WTC conditions. See Matter of Dement v Kelly. 97
            AD3d 223, 230 (1st Dept 2012). Petitioner, through the report of Dr. Stripp, has made a credible
            argument supporting the proposition that the accidental overdose cause of death listed on
            Quinn's autopsy was, in turn, a result of his WTC injuries. Bitchatchi at 275 ("an officer's
            disability or death as a result of a qualifying condition is presumed to be caused by his or her
            exposure at the WTC site for purposes of benefit upgrades."). That Quinn's qualifying
            conditions specifically made him susceptible to an accidental overdose is further supported by
            the HSS doctor's notes and the fact that he was prescribed anti-overdose medications.

            The purpose of the WTC Bill "is to protect workers harmed by the September I 1th tragedy."
            Dement v Kelly, 97 AD3d 223, 231 (I st Dept 2012). "Respondents' narrow reading of the law
            would defeat the avowed purpose of the statute, i.e., to protect 9/1 l workers as a result of their
            heroic effmts ... The statutory language 'an impainnent of health caused by a qualifying [WTC]
            condition' must be interpreted in a manner consistent with the underlying purposes of the
            statute." Id.

            It was arbitrary and capricious for respondents to find that Quinn was not entitled to the WTC
            Presumption, and, therefore, they must rebut that preswnption with "credible evidence," which
            they failed to do. Respondent's conjecture and unsupported suspicion that Quinn's accidental
            overdose was not ultimately caused by a qualifying WTC condition is insufficient. Liston v City
            of New York, 161 AD2d 491, 492 (1st Dept 1990) (medical board's conclusory finding lacking a
            factual basis did not constitute "competent evidence" required to rebut statutory presumption of
            causation).

            Therefore, this Court will direct respondent to vacate its prior determination, denying petitioner's
            application for a line-of-duty death benefit pension pursuant to the WTC Bill. Dement at 232
            (1st Dept 2012) ("A court may set aside the Board of Trustees' denial of ADR benefits where it
            can conclude, as a matter of law, that a petitioner's disability is the natural and proximate result
            of a service-related accident."); see Canfora v Bd. of Trustees of Police Pension Fund of Police
            Dept. of City of New York, 60 NY2d 347 (1983).

            Conclusion
            The petition is granted; respondents are hereby directed to annul the October 26, 2022
            determination of respondent The Board of Trustees of the fire Department of the City of New
            York Pension Fund, which denied petitioner's application for line-of-duty death benefits, and
            reconsider its determination consistent with this Decision; the Clerk is directed to enter
            judgement accordingly.

                     1/3/2024
                      DATE                                                     ARTHUR F. ENGORON, J.S.C.

                                                                      ~
             CHECK ONE:                  CASE DISPOSED                    NON•FINAL DISPOSITION

                                         GRANTED         □ DENIED         GRANTED IN PART          □ OTHER
             APPLICATION:                SETTLE ORDER                     SUBMIT ORDER
             CHECK IF APPROPRIATE:       INCLUDES TRANSFER/REASSIGN       FIDUCIARY APPOINTMENT    □ REFERENCE

             151624/2023 QUINN, MICHELE vs. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT OF         Page 4 of4
             THE CITY OF NEW YORK PENSION FUND ET AL
             Motion No. 001

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