ROBERT R. WILK v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES, STATE POLICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM

 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-5221-05T55221-05T5

ROBERT R. WILK,

Petitioner-Appellant,

v.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES, STATE

POLICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM,

Respondent-Respondent.

________________________________________________________________

 

Submitted September 10, 2007 - Decided September 14, 2007

Before Judges Stern and A. A. Rodr guez.

On appeal from a final administrative

determination of the Board of Trustees,

State Police Retirement System,

SPRS#8-10-3085.

Gary P. Levin, attorney for appellant.

Anne Milgram, Attorney General, attorney

for respondent (Patrick DeAlmeida, Assistant

Attorney General, of counsel; Christine

Lucarelli, Deputy Attorney General, on the

brief).

PER CURIAM

Petitioner appeals from a final administrative determination of the Board of Trustees of the State Police Retirement System which adopted the recommendation of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), and, on March 30, 2006, denied petitioner's claim for an accidental disability retirement because he did not sustain his burden of proving "that he is permanently and totally disabled as a result of a traumatic event occurring during and as a result of the performance of his regular or assigned duties." As a result, petitioner received only an ordinary disability retirement.

Petitioner asserts he was injured in an automobile accident while on his way home from a required state police physical examination. He argues that "the trial court erred by finding the Board of Trustees of the State Police Retirement System did not exceed their statutory authority under N.J.A.C. 17:5-5.7," the Board of Trustees is estopped from changing its original position which approved the accidental disability retirement, and that "the trial court erred by failing to properly analyze the three prong test for determining a traumatic event."

We remand the matter to the Board of Trustees in light of the recent opinion of the Supreme Court in Richardson v. Bd. of Trustees, 192 N.J. 189 (2007), which overruled Kane v. Bd. of Trustees, 101 N.J. 651 (1996). We do not preclude a further remand by the Board to the ALJ.

 
Remanded. We do not retain jurisdiction. However, if appellant is unsuccessful on the remand, he may file a new appeal without the need for filing fees.

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A-5221-05T5

September 14, 2007