07/06/2026
July 2026 – The Supreme Court, New York County, ruled that the NYPD’s Pension Fund acted arbitrarily and capriciously in denying a retired Detective, a World Trade Accident Disability Retirement pension, for a 9/11 cancer disability, based upon a finding her WTC line of duty efforts could not be verified. The Fund ruled that entries in the petitioner’s official department Memo Book, who was a 3rd year police officer at the time, assigned to street crimes in the Bronx; that indicated she was sent from the Bronx to Pier 40 for WTC response efforts, the primary WTC response staging area for the NYPD’s 9/11 rescue, recovery and clean-up efforts, which was located just out of the WTC Zone; did not suffice to prove that she entered the zone and did the WTC work that she and 3 supervisors described and attested to in sworn statements. Thus, the denial implied that she never left Pier 40 for the numerous days, including 9/11, 9/12 and 9/13, and never entered the WTC Zone. The Court found the denial to be legally improper and unsupported. The Judge ruled the Fund and its Board of Trustees did not fully and fairly consider the facts and evidence. The Court sent the case back for proper consideration and instructed that if the petitioner’s 9/11-WTC response efforts and hours are verified, that her pension is to be reclassified retroactively. This is the 104th Article 78 win for Chet Lukaszewski.
