New York: Apportionment Not Available Between Work-Related Asbestosis and Non-Work-Related Thyroid Cancer in Death Benefits Case

Last Thursday, a New York appellate court recently affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that had determined that a worker’s death was causally related to his employment in spite of medical evidence that his death was attributable 20 percent to his occupational lung disease, in the form of asbestosis, and 80 percent to non-work-related thyroid cancer [In the Matter of the Claim of Hroncich v. Con Edison, 2012 NY Slip Op 263, 2012 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 275 (Jan. 19, 2012)]. The appellate court indicated that since decedent’s occupational illness contributed to his death, claimant was entitled to death benefits without apportionment.