May, 2012 – The Court found in favor of the petitioner and against the Board of Education Retirement System, and vacated the System’s denial of the petitioner's application for a Disability Retirement pension, and remanded her application to the System for reconsideration. The petitioner was a School Aide with serious spinal injuries and issues. Petitioner alleged that the multiple reviews of her application performed by the Retirement System were legally deficient, and that the System’s disability pension process as a whole was flawed, as there was seemingly no overseeing body, like a Board of Trustees. The petitioner also argued that she was not provided with pertinent medical reports from System doctors in connection with their recommendations for denial; and only obtained the reports during the Court action; and that said reports showed the doctors had not reviewed key records submitted and had given no explanation for their determinations.

April, 2012 – The Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed the Supreme Court, New York County, which found the NYPD Pension Fund had acted arbitrarily and capriciously in refusing an NYPD Detective's request to re-open his disability pension application, which had been closed one month before while he was still in the hospital recovering from a major heart attack and the placement of 5 stents, to include his heart condition; where the heart attack occurred less than 6 months after his retirement, following a 24.5 year career, and where the heart condition was previously undiagnosed because of improper heart testing. It was petitioner's claim that the Pension Fund was aware of his heart attack and hospitalization and ought to have amended his application which was for a leg condition, where evidence of cardiac testing was also present; or at the very least, kept his application open until he was capable of taking the appropriate actions regarding his heart condition in connection therewith. The Court found petitioner ought to have the opportunity to have the Pension Fund evaluate whether his heart condition is line of duty related, under the ‘Heart Bill'. The Appellate Court's decision affirmed the lower Court’s order instructing the Pension Fund to re-open the application and allow for the amendment, so that the petitioner's heart disability claim can be considered.

March 13, 2012 – The Chief Leader newspaper publishes story ‘Officer Can Appeal Denial of 9/11 Disability Pension’, which reports on Court of Appeals decision to hear 9/11-NYPD cancer case, of firm’s client Eddie Maldando.

March 2012-  The New York State Court of Appeals, the highest court in the State, grants Chet Lukaszewski, PC’s motion for leave to appeal, and agrees to hear the 9/11 NYPD cancer case of the firm’s client, Police Officer  Eddie Maldanado.  Officer Maldanado felt a small bump in his thigh prior to 9/11 which he thought was a muscle injury or cramp of some type, as he was an athlete and beat cop. However he did not seek medical help as the World Trade Center attacks occurred. By early November, after working security at Ground Zero for over 30 days, Maldanado had a softball sized tumor in his thigh, and the cancer also metastasized to both bone and lung tissue.  Officer Maldando’s oncologist said the tumor growth and cancer spread and progression was beyond extreme, and theorized that  the toxins fueled the cancer.  Maldanado thankfully lived after more than a year of chemotherapy and radiation, but the tumor removal resulted in his losing the majority of his upper leg. He applied for a World Trade Center(WTC) related, line of duty, Accident Disability Retirement pension from the NYPD’s Pension Fund, under the WTC Presumptive Law, which gives 9/11 first responders a presumption of “causation” with regard to the link between their disability and their WTC efforts and toxic exposures, if disabled by a recognized WTC qualifying condition. The New York legislature included cancer as a protected qualifying condition in the law.  Also, the New York Courts have established that if a pre-existing condition is exacerbated to point disability by a line of duty injury, it is considered a line of duty disability for pension purposes; which is what occurred to Maldanado, with his 9/11 exposure injuries being the line of duty injury which exacerbated his pre-existing cancer condition to the point of disability, in causing such rapid growth, that it resulted in losing the use of his right leg; if not for 9/11, he would have sought help for the small lump and not been permanently disabled by the cancer.  Maldanado was denied a WTC disability pension by the NYPD’s Pension Fund, based on Fund’s argument there was no “proof” offered that WTC toxins exacerbated his cancer, and thus while they found him to be disabled, they retired him on a non line of duty disability pension. The New York State Supreme Court, and then the Appellate Division First Department both affirmed the Pension Fund’s decision.  Chet Lukaszewski argued to the Court of Appeals, that the WTC Law’s presumption of causation must be rebutted with “competent evidence”, and simply saying an applicant offered “no proof” of a causal connection between their WTC exposures and their disability, is not competent evidence sufficient to rebut the presumption; he also argued that the Law was enacted to protect first responders; also that if responders felt unprotected by the disability pension laws, it could have  a chilling effect on their future efforts and willingness to endanger themselves in catastrophic situations, thereby putting the general public at risk.  The case will be heard by the Court of Appeals this Summer.

February 2012 - Chet Lukaszewski was consulted by the New York Injured Workers’ Alliance (NYIWA) on potential changes to due process hearings in New York State Disability Retirement cases, based on his long history of successfully representing disability pension applicants in the various New York City Retirement Systems and Pension Funds, as well in the State’s Retirement System, and also at every level of the New York State Courts. Mr. Lukaszewski shared his disability pension expertise with the NYIWA in the hopes of bringing about meaningful reforms which will benefit injured workers.

December 2011 - Chet Lukaszewski, Esq., is recognized by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, along with a select group of New York attorneys, as a lawyer who has reputably and successfully advocated on behalf of victim’s of ‘September 11th’.