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Pierce v. District of Columbia Police and Firefighters' Retirement and Relief Board9/1/2005
Argued February 10, 2005
Before FARRELL, RUIZ and GLICKMAN, Associate Judges.
Petitioner, Edith R. Pierce, seeks review of a decision of the District of Columbia Police and Firefighters' Retirement and Relief Board ("the Board") concluding that she is permanently disabled but that she is not entitled to the more generous retirement benefits afforded to officers who become disabled by injuries suffered in the performance of duty because her disabling condition, a depressive disorder, was not so incurred. Petitioner does not challenge the Board's finding that she is permanently disabled, but rather contends that she established a prima facie case that her mental disability was incurred in the performance of duty, and that the government failed to satisfy its burden of proof to establish by substantial evidence that her disabling condition was not caused by onthe-job duties. We hold that although one of the Board's findings is not supported by substantial evidence, its remaining substantiated findings compel the Board's conclusion that petitioner's claim fails as a matter of law, and we affirm.
I. Factual Background
Petitioner joined the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department ("MPD") in 1978 at the age of 21 and rose to the rank of Lieutenant. At the time of the Board's hearing, Lt. Pierce had accumulated over twenty-four years of service with the Department. She sustained various on and off-duty injuries through her years as an officer, culminating in November 1997, when she slipped and struck the back of her head and neck against the frame of a police cruiser while entering the vehicle. She was treated at the Police & Fire Clinic for her injuries and returned to full duty in February 1998. The following year, in January 1999, Lt. Pierce reported to the Clinic complaining of "pain and swelling" in the back of her head, neck, shoulders and back, attributing her symptoms to an aggravation of the November 1997 injury. She also complained of "stress, insomnia, headaches, increased appetite and depression,"and submitted an extensive injury report linking the cause of her mental condition to a "hostile work environment, humiliation by subordinates and peers," and accusing her supervisor, Commander Winston Robinson, of continuous "belittlement and harassment." Based on her reports, she was diagnosed as being severely depressed and placed on sick leave for a duty-related illness. Dr. C. Richard Filson, the treating psychologist at the clinic, diagnosed the petitioner as having Major Depressive Disorder, Severe Single Episode, and her police powers were revoked on March 3, 1999. In April of that year, petitioner returned to light duty, only to develop psychotic symptoms (specifically, frank paranoid ideation, accompanying suspiciousness, irritability and misperceptions of environmental occurrences) in the following month. She last worked as an officer in September of 1999. Although it appears that her illness was then classified as not incurred in the performance of duty ("non-POD"), the following month, Ira Stohlman, the Director of MPD's Medical Services Division ("MDEAP"), reconsidered that determination and reclassified petitioner's illness as having been incurred in the performance of duty ("POD").
Dr. Filson prepared a report in September 2001, recommending that petitioner be retired from the police force due to her diagnosis, concluding: "Lt. Edith Pierce is permanently disabled. According to AMA Guides, Fourth Edition, she falls into a Class (4) rating (Marked Impairment) which translates into an approximately 75% impairment." The report related the history of petitioner's mental illness, noting that the "crisis," as described in Dr. Filso
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