Creed & Gowdy successfully defended an appeal filed by the City of Jacksonville against a firefighter who filed a petition for workers' compensation benefits and requested authorization to treat with a cardiologist for his heart and hypertension1 issues, compensability, and attorney's fees. Because he was a firefighter suffering from heart disease, a statutory presumption that his work caused the heart disease was available to him under section 112.18, Florida Statutes, which establishes that certain health conditions resulting in a firefighter's disability or death, including heart disease, "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." § 112.18(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2014). The City stipulated that there was no evidence of heart disease on the Claimant's pre-employment physical exam. In a written opinion, the First District Court of Appeal sided with the firefighter. Meredith Ross briefed the appeal.

Read the opinion here.