Firefighter brought action against board of trustees of village firefighters’ pension fund, alleging that board had wrongfully denied his application for a duty disability pension. The Circuit Court affirmed the board decision, and firefighter appealed.
The Appellate Court held that board decision was against manifest weight of evidence.
No evidence supported board’s conclusion that firefighter’s disability had been solely caused by a preexisting back condition and that work-related injury did not contribute at all to the disability. All medical evidence, including reports made by the board’s own independent medical evaluators, concluded that the work-related injury contributed at least in part to firefighter’s permanent disability.