Municipal Worker Fails in Bid for Disability Benefits Based on Diesel and Toxic Exposures

TRENTON, N.J. — A municipal worker who alleged exposure to diesel fumes and environmental contaminants failed to persuade a New Jersey appellate court to reverse a compensation judge’s finding that those exposures did not lead to a compensable pulmonary disability.

The New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division panel said in its per curiam opinion Aug. 21 that a compensation judge did not err in adopting the opinion of the municipality’s medical expert or in drawing an adverse conclusion from the absence of testimony or records from the claimant’s long-time cardiologist.

John Donato claimed that a 2004 diagnosis of pulmonary disease …