Insurance Company Files Appeal Disputing Line-of-Duty Death of Firefighter

By Daniel Hawn

Published on September 21, 2006

Firefighter Dave Potter suffered from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After an aggressive course of treatment that lasted for 10 months, Potter died at age 53. The death is currently classified as a line-of-duty death by the Department of Labor and Industries, which approved the claim, but that could change if the city’s insurance company, Safety National Casualty Corp., wins its appeal. The case will eventually receive a hearing from the state Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals.

City officials did not expound upon their position when firefighter union representatives attended a City Council meeting on Sept. 18, stating that they could not discuss the matter in a public forum. The city has had to explain that it was the insurance company, rather than the city itself, that filed the appeal on behalf of the city.

A law lobbied for by firefighters across the state and approved by the Legislature in 2002 added several diseases to the classification of occupational illnesses for firefighters, including the condition that resulted in Potter’s death. The law explains that benzene, a potent carcinogen, is present in most fire environments. Firefighters exposed to benzene have a greater risk of developing cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.

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