In a case involving a City of Tucson paramedic, the claimant progressively had worsening temper and anger issues. He went to a psychiatrist six times between 2017 and 2021 who found claimant to be “emotionally charged” and recommended that he find new ways to deal with his stress. The claimant was also prescribed medication for depression and anxiety.
In April of 2022 while attending a music festival, another attendee fell headfirst to the ground and was not moving. The claimant responded and began rendering aid. Other festival attendees demanded that claimant stop touching her or they “would sue him.” This caused the claimant to have a severe mental breakdown, and he attempted suicide. After regaining consciousness, the claimant was taken to an in-patient treatment facility, and he was diagnosed with PTSD. In July 2022, the claimant filed his first report of injury.
The City of Tucson denied his claim as being untimely and argued that medical records proved that claimant had a diagnosable mental injury prior to July of 2021. An ALJ ultimately found the claim to be compensable stating that due to the complexity of a PTSD diagnosis and the increase in severity of symptoms over many years, there was not sufficient evidence to show that claimant had a viable PTSD claim before July of 2021. According to the ALJ, it was not until the in-patient treatment that claimant realized his mental condition and inability to continue working.
The Court held that the ALJ did not err in finding that the claim was timely filed and the City of Tucson failed to meet its burden of presenting evidence that claimant knew or should have known that he had a compensable injury more than one year prior to filing his report of injury. The Court relied on an opinion finding that a police officer’s claim filed 24 years after a traumatic event was timely.
City of Tucson v. Indus. Comm'n of Ariz., No. 2 CA-IC 24-0003, 2025 WL 314376 (Ariz. Ct. App. Jan. 2025).
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