Austin City Council Drops Lawsuit Against Firefighter

Thursday, September 20, 2018 | 0

Less than two weeks after an Austin firefighter complained to a news station about the city’s aggressive legal actions over her cancer claims, the City Council has voted to drop the lawsuit.

Lt. Carrie Stewart
(Facebook photo)

Austin fire Lt. Carrie Stewart told a local TV news station earlier this month that she was shocked that the city, her employer, would take her to court and demand attorney fees after an appeals panel ruled that her breast cancer was compensable under Texas’ cancer-presumption law for firefighters.

Her oncologist has stated that the disease was likely related to exposure to hazardous chemicals at work.

This week, the Austin City Council voted to cancel the lawsuit after some council members said they were unaware of the court action.

"Not only am I a former firefighter but I'm the daughter of a former firefighter, and I usually think if I had been in a similar situation where something like this would've happened to my father and how that would affect my family," said Councilwoman Delia Garza, according to the Spectrum News service.

The practice of Texas cities suing firefighters or appealing cases they have won at the compensation court level is not unusual, Stewart’s attorney said earlier this month.

Cities have argued that the wording of the 2005 presumption law limits compensation for firefighters to just three types of cancer: testicular, prostate and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Firefighters' union officials and claimants' attorneys have disputed the narrow interpretation.