Arizona firefighter suffers legal setback in bid to secure workers’ comp for brain cancer

PHOENIX – An Arizona firefighter suffered a legal setback recently in his attempt to secure workers’ compensation coverage for a rare form of brain cancer.

Robert Vande Krol, a longtime firefighter for the Superstition Fire and Medical District, was diagnosed with oligodendroglioma in 2020 and filed a workers’ compensation claim in January 2021.

Benchmark Insurance, the Apache Junction-based fire department’s insurance carrier, denied the claim.

How did Arizona firefighter’s case get to state Supreme Court?

An administrative law judge then conducted a hearing and upheld the denial based on the standard of proof for occupational cancer from a 2017 state law.

However, the Arizona Court of Appeals later agreed with Vande Krol that a 2021 statute that makes it easier for firefighters to prove their medical condition was work-related should have been the standard.

Unfortunately for Vande Krol, that opinion was overturned last week by the Arizona Supreme Court.

In a ruling issued Wednesday, the state high court said the 2021 law wasn’t applicable in this case because it was not in place when Vande Krol filed his claim, and lawmakers did not include a provision specifying that it should apply to past events.

The case now returns to the Court of Appeals, which is tasked with deciding if the administrative law judge properly applied the 2017 statute when upholding the denial of Vande Krol’s claim.

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