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Hay v. Schwartz12/29/1998
ermanent such that he could not return to his job as fire marshall. For his part, Dr. Geha agreed with Dr. Bregant that Hay was permanently disabled in his ability to manage the rigors and stresses of working in a fire department such that he was unable to perform his duty as fire marshall. The Board also had before it the report of the District's fire chief in which he stated that he believed that Hay's "disability occurred as the natural and proximate result of an injury or disease that arose out of and in the course of" his duty as fire marshall.
In support of his claim, Hay testified how his job as fire marshall mentally disabled him. And, because he had the burden of proof as to his mental disability, including the medical causation, nature, extent, and permanency, which are medical questions required to be established with scientific evidence, unless the record shows facts that lie within the realm of lay understanding, Knapp, 738 S.W.2d at 913-14; Clevenger v. Labor and Indus. Relations Comm'n, 600 S.W.2d 675, 676 (Mo. App. 1980), he called Dr. Kling, his psychiatrist, to testify as to these issues. In this respect, Dr. Kling testified that Hay suffered from depression and anxiety as a result of significant work stress associated with human trauma and emergency associated with his position as fire marshall. He further testified that his disability was permanent and that the stress of responding to emergency traumas was the precipitating factor leading to his disability. When asked if there were factors other than his job as fire marshall that could have caused Hay stress and anxiety, Dr. Kling testified that he questioned Hay about outside stresses and that he denied that there were any.
All four physicians agreed that Hay was mentally disabled. Three of the four, Drs. Bregant, Geha, and Kling, believed that his mental incapacitation was permanent such that he could not perform the necessary duties of a fire marshall. As to the fourth, Dr. Sanders did not express an opinion as to whether his mental disability was permanent and suggested a second opinion to determine its permanency. As to the cause of Hay's disability, Dr. Kling testified that Hay's permanent mental disability resulted from his job as fire marshall. Neither Drs. Bregant, Sanders, nor Geha expressed any opinion as to the cause of Hay's mental disability. There was no evidence presented to dispute or impeach Dr. Kling's testimony that Hay's mental disability was the result of his job as fire marshall.
While an administrative agency, such as the Board here, may base its decision on a finding of lack of credible testimony, " n administrative agency may not arbitrarily ignore relevant evidence not shown to be disbelieved. Only if it makes a specific finding that undisputed or unimpeached evidence is incredible and is unworthy of belief may it disregard such evidence." Knapp, 738 S.W.2d at 913; Missouri Church of Scientology v. State Tax Comm'n, 560 S.W.2d 837, 843 (Mo. banc 1977). As to Dr. Kling's and Hay's testimony, the Board never made specific findings that their testimony was incredible or unworthy of belief. Instead, the Board simply noted that it had "carefully assessed the credibility of [Dr. Kling and Hay and had] used such evaluation and assessment in reaching its Conclusion." While we can infer that the Board did, in fact, Judge the witnesses' credibility, it never made any specific finding as to whether they were credible. And, as to Drs. Geha, Bregant, and Sanders, other than noting that they had evaluated Hay, the Board did not make specific findings as to their credibility. Because the Board failed to make specific credibility findings as to the evidence upon which Hay relied to establish his prima faci
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