City of Littleton v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office

Summary

The Colorado Supreme Court considered whether a statutory presumption under Colorado’s firefighter statute established that a firefighter’s brain cancer was job-related for workers’ compensation purposes. The court held that the presumption shifts the burden of persuasion to the employer or insurer, which may rebut it by showing the absence of general or specific causation by a preponderance of the medical evidence. The court reversed the court of appeals and remanded for reinstatement of the administrative law judge’s original findings and order.

Holdings

1. Section 8-41-209(2) creates a substantive rebuttable presumption that relieves a qualifying firefighter of proving that a listed cancer resulted from employment, but it does not conclusively presume that firefighting causes the listed cancers or that employment caused the particular claimant's cancer.
2. An employer may satisfy section 8-41-209(2)(b) by proving by a preponderance of the medical evidence either that known or typical occupational exposures are not capable of causing the type of cancer at issue, or that the particular employment did not cause the claimant's cancer.
3. The ALJ's finding that Littleton rebutted the presumption was supported by substantial evidence, and the court of appeals erred by reweighing the medical evidence and failing to defer to the ALJ.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Colorado's firefighter-cancer statute creates a conclusive presumption that a qualifying firefighter's listed cancer resulted from employment.
2. Whether an employer may rebut the statutory presumption by proving the absence of general causation, specific causation, or both, through a preponderance of the medical evidence.
3. Whether the court of appeals improperly evaluated the medical evidence and failed to defer to the ALJ's supported factual findings.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded