Board of Trustee for the Firefighters' Pension System of the City of Kansas City, Missouri Trust Missouri Cases

Jeremy Starr, a firefighter, sought a duty-related disability pension for bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and cubital tunnel syndrome. The Pension Board denied his claim for duty-related benefits, awarding a non-duty pension instead, which the circuit court reversed. The appellate court affirmed the circuit court's judgment, holding that the Pension Board improperly rejected unanimous expert medical opinions on causation by substituting its own lay judgment and mischaracterizing the experts' reliance on Starr's job descriptions. The case was remanded to the Pension Board with directions to award Starr the duty-related disability pension benefits.