The Rhode Island Supreme Court says the Providence Retirement Board erred when it denied a city firefighter's petition for an accidental disability pension.
In quashing the board's denial of Michael Morse's 2012 petition, the court ruled that the board "misconstrued" a city ordinance when it based its decision on a "self-imposed unanimity rule."
The court has remanded Morse's case to the Retirement Board, "with directions to reconsider the application in conformity with this opinion." The court filed its decision Monday.
Morse, a long-serving fire-rescue captain, filed his petition after he injured his back lifting a patient at Rhode Island Hospital in August 2012. The court also called it "significant" that Morse's medical records reveal that he'd suffered three separate work-related injuries to his lower back.
The Retirement Board had required that all three independent physicians who examined Morse agree that he was permanently disabled as a result of a work-related injury. One of the three had disagreed.