Walters v. State-DOC/Division of Risk Management

Summary

The Florida First District Court of Appeal held that a correctional officer was entitled to the statutory presumption under section 112.18, Florida Statutes, that his heart disease was suffered in the line of duty. Because the State did not present competent medical evidence establishing a non-occupational cause, the court reversed and remanded for an award of medical and other workers’ compensation benefits related to the heart disease.

Holdings

1. The State did not rebut the statutory presumption because it failed to prove that Walters encountered the virus outside the workplace or that his heart disease had a non-occupational cause.
2. Walters was not required to establish under section 440.151 that he contracted the virus at work or that the viral gastroenteritis was an occupational disease unless and until the section 112.18 presumption was rebutted.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the State rebutted the section 112.18 statutory presumption of occupational causation by proving that Walters's heart disease was caused by a non-work-related virus.
2. Whether Walters was required to prove under section 440.151 that the viral gastroenteritis was itself an occupational disease after the section 112.18 presumption arose.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded