Opinion
August 5, 1996
In a proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 to review a determination of the Board of Trustees of the New York City Fire Department, Article 1-B Pension Fund, which denied the petitioner's application for an accident disability pension and retired him on ordinary disability, the Board of Trustees of the New York City Fire Department, Article 1-B Pension Fund appeals from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Held, J.), dated May 3, 1995, which granted the petition and annulled the determination.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.
The Supreme Court correctly vacated the determination of the Board of Trustees of the New York City Fire Department, Article 1-B Pension Fund, which denied the petitioner's application for an accident disability pension and retired him on ordinary disability. The proof incontrovertibly established a causal connection between the petitioner's line-of-duty injuries and his disability (see, Matter of Tobin v Steisel, 64 N.Y.2d 254; Matter of Canfora v Board of Trustees, 60 N.Y.2d 347; Matter of Causarano v Board of Trustees, 178 A.D.2d 474; Matter of Shedd v Board of Trustees, 177 A.D.2d 632). The record is bereft of any objective medical evidence indicating that the petitioner's disabling lower back condition was the result of anything other than his line-of-duty injuries (see, Matter of Mescall v Board of Trustees, 204 A.D.2d 643, 645; cf., Matter of Drayson v Board of Trustees, 37 A.D.2d 378, affd 32 N.Y.2d 852). Under these circumstances, the only reasonable inference is that the petitioner's disability was the natural and proximate result of his service-related accidents (see, Matter of Mescall v Board of Trustees, supra, at 645; see also, Matter of Bridgwood v Board of Trustees, 204 A.D.2d 629, 630; compare, Matter of Regan v Board of Trustees, 226 A.D.2d 731; Matter of Callahan v Board of Trustees, 226 A.D.2d 628; Matter of Coleman v Board of Trustees, 224 A.D.2d 522). Rosenblatt, J.P., Ritter, Copertino and Joy, JJ., concur.