Supreme Court to Decide Issues Relating to Firefighters’ Cancer Claims
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will decide the following issues in City of Philadelphia Fire Dept. v. WCAB (Sladek):
- Whether the Commonwealth Court, in a case of first impression, committed an error of law by misinterpreting Section 108(r) to require a firefighter diagnosed with cancer caused by an IARC Group I carcinogen to establish exposure to a specific carcinogen that causes his/her cancer in order to gain the rebuttable presumption provided by the law?
- Whether the Commonwealth Court committed an error of law by concluding that a legislatively-created presumption of compensability may be competently rebutted by a general causation opinion, based entirely upon epidemiology, without any opinion specific to the firefighter/claimant making the claim?