Gorre v. City of Tacoma

357 P.3d 625, 184 Wash. 2d 30
Washington Supreme Court·Decided August 27, 2015·No. No. 90620-3·Published·Cited by 31 cases

Opinions

Yu, J.

¶1 — This is an appeal from a denial of a workers’ compensation claim. Under the Industrial Insurance Act (Act), Title 51 RCW, a worker injured in the course of employment suffers from an “occupational disease” and is entitled to certain benefits. The burden of proving an occupational disease generally falls on the worker. That is, to receive benefits an injured worker typically must show that his or her injury arose naturally and proximately from employment. This case involves an exception that shifts that burden in certain circumstances.

¶2 Under RCW 51.32.185(1), a firefighter who suffers from any of four enumerated classes of injury receives a rebuttable evidentiary presumption that the injury is an occupational disease. At issue here are two of those presumptive classes of occupational disease:

(1) In the case of firefighters ... there shall exist a prima facie presumption that: (a) Respiratory disease;... and (d) infectious diseases are occupational diseases .... This presumption of occupational disease may be rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence. . . .
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(4) The presumption [for infectious diseases] shall be extended to any firefighter who has contracted any of the following infectious diseases: Human immunodeficiency virus/ acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, all strains of hepatitis, meningococcal meningitis, or mycobacterium tuberculosis.

RCW 51.32.185 (emphasis added). A firefighter who does not qualify for RCW 51.32.185(l)’s presumption may still receive benefits, but he or she retains the burden of proof.

¶3 Edward O. Gorre, a firefighter employed by the city of Tacoma (City), suffers from valley fever (coccidioidomycosis). Gorre’s diagnosis is not disputed. At issue instead is whether valley fever is a “respiratory disease” or an “infectious disease” under RCW 51.32.185(l)(a) or (d) that shifts the burden of proving the disease’s proximate cause from Gorre to the employer City. The answer involves two questions of statutory interpretation.

[34]*34¶4 First, we must interpret “respiratory disease” in RCW 51.32.185(l)(a). Gorre asks us to affirm the Court of Appeals, which adopted the term’s ordinary dictionary definition. The City urges us to interpret it as a term of art, limiting respiratory diseases to what doctors diagnose as such. Second, we must interpret the scope of RCW 51.32-.185(l)(d)’s presumption for “infectious diseases” and specifically what RCW 51.32.185(4) means by stating that the presumption “shall be extended to” HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), hepatitis, meningitis, and tuberculosis. The issue is whether that list of diseases is exclusive. The Court of Appeals held it was not, interpreting RCW 51.32.185(l)(d) to cover every infectious disease, including valley fever.

¶5 We reverse the Court of Appeals and reinstate the superior court’s judgment in the City’s favor. We conclude that “respiratory disease,” as used in RCW 51.32.185(l)(a), refers only to diseases that medical experts diagnose as respiratory diseases. We also conclude that the “infectious diseases” qualifying for RCW 51.32.185(l)(d)’s evidentiary presumption are limited to those diseases specifically enumerated in RCW 51.32.185(4). Because medical experts in Gorre’s case testified that valley fever is an infectious disease, not a respiratory one, and because it is not one of the infectious diseases enumerated in RCW 51.32.185(4), the presumption does not apply.

BACKGROUND

¶6 A firefighter employed by the City since 1997, Gorre fell ill shortly after returning to Washington from a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. His diagnosis was initially a mystery. Doctors went through several tentative diagnoses before a skin biopsy tested positive for valley fever. “Valley fever” is a fungal infection endemic to the desert southwest, including Nevada and especially California’s San Joaquin Valley [35]*35(from where the name derives). The fungus favors warm, dry climates, and though it lives in the desert’s arid soil, it releases spores into the air if the soil is disturbed. Humans acquire valley fever by inhaling those spores.

f7 Gorre filed for workers’ compensation benefits with the City and the Department of Labor and Industries. After both entities rejected his claim, Gorre appealed to the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals (Board). His administrative appeal included both procedural and factual components. As to procedure, Gorre asserted that he had a “respiratory disease” and an “infectious disease” under RCW 51.32.185(1), which shifted the burden of proving a nonemployment cause of valley fever to the City. As to fact, Gorre alleged that he was exposed to the fungus from responding to emergency calls on Interstate 5, where he inhaled spores transported by vehicles traveling north from California.1

¶8 After hearing extensive motions, an industrial appeals judge (IAJ) ruled that even if RCW 51.32.185 applied, the City’s initial evidence had rebutted the presumption. The IAJ then held an evidentiary hearing where Gorre retained the burden of proving an employment-related exposure to valley fever. Following several days of testimony, the IAJ proposed a decision and order finding that valley fever was an infectious disease that Gorre likely acquired in Nevada. Expert testimony supported these findings, and the Board adopted them. The Board affirmed rejection of Gorre’s benefits claim. The Pierce County Superior Court likewise affirmed after a bench trial.

¶9 The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for a new evidentiary hearing, holding that Gorre was entitled to RCW 51.32.185(l)’s presumptions for respiratory and infec[36]*36tious diseases. Gorre v. City of Tacoma, 180 Wn. App. 729, 324 P.3d 716 (2014). We granted the City’s petition for review. Gorre v. City of Tacoma,

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