Court Opinion

ID: 9749890
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 14:02:14.465135+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:59.326007
License: Public Domain

NEWMAN, Justice,
Concurring.
I agree with the Majority that regardless of whether a claimant’s psychic injury stems from a single event or a series of stresses over a period of time, a claimant must prove that the cause of the psychic injury was an abnormal working condition. Also, I concur with the decision to reverse the Commonwealth Court’s Order granting Harold Ryder civil service disability benefits because the standoff between Ryder and the armed suspect constituted a normal part of Ryder’s duties as a police officer. I write separately to note that I do not read the Opinion of the Majority as foreclosing any *279possible recovery for psychic injuries suffered by law enforcement officers. The finding of abnormal working conditions is a very fact-sensitive process. Wilson v. W.C.A.B. (Aluminum Co. of America), 542 Pa.614, 669 A.2d 338, 343 (1996). Therefore, our decision today does not create a per se rule banning recovery by all police officers for psychic injuries caused by truly abnormal incidents involving armed suspects.
Justice SAYLOR joins this concurring opinion.