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Posted on 11.04.08 11:27AM under Legal Precedent, May, 2008
GRAYMOND BUTLER, Appellant,v.CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, Appellee.
Case No. 1D06-5918.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
Opinion filed May 8, 2008.
The claimant, Graymond Butler, appeals an order of the judge of compensation claims (JCC) denying his claim for permanent total disability (PTD) benefits resulting from his compensable accident of March 12, 1996. The claimant argues that he was entitled to the presumption that his peripheral vascular disease (PVD) was caused by his occupation as a firefighter. The claimant also argues that he was entitled to PTD benefits because his PVD met or equaled a listed impairment. We agree and reverse.
Section 112.18(1), Florida Statutes (1996), also referred to as the “Heart/Lung Bill,” provides in pertinent part:
“Any condition or impairment of health of any Florida municipal . . . firefighter caused by tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension resulting in total or partial disability or death shall be presumed to have been accidental and to have been suffered in the line of duty unless the contrary be shown by competent evidence.”
In the instant case, the JCC denied the claim for PTD benefits despite having found that the claimant’s PVD met a listed impairment under the third step of the inquiry. Although not acknowledged by the JCC in his final order, by finding that the claimant met a listed impairment, the JCC should have found the claimant disabled without any further inquiry. The JCC, however, went on to the fourth and fifth steps and found that the claimant was not disabled under the fifth step. This was error. It appears from the final order that the JCC did so because he concluded that the claimant’s PVD did not result from the claimant’s occupation as a firefighter. As discussed previously, the claimant was entitled to the presumption that his PVD was caused by his occupation as a firefighter. Therefore, the JCC erred in denying the claim for PTD benefits.
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