Richmond, VA-based insurance defense lawyer Claire C. Carr has been named to Virginia Super Lawyers on multiple occasions and maintains active membership with multiple professional organizations, including the Virginia Workers’ Compensation American Inn of Court and Counsel for Litigation Management. Since 1999, Claire C. Carr has led Kalbaugh, Pfund & Messersmith, PC’s Workers’ Compensation Department. She is particularly adept in occupational diseases.

The Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act lists seven different cancers as occupational diseases for firefighters and other first responders, but one lawmaker has introduced legislation to expand upon that list and remove restrictions for workers. The legislation, which was prefiled by Sen. John Cosgrove (R-Chesapeake) on November 19 and referred to the Virginia Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, adds brain, colon, and testicular cancers as occupational diseases.

In addition, the legislation removes the requirement that the worker diagnosed with cancer must have been in contact with a toxic substance in order to be compensated. The current law is that first responders are eligible for workers’ compensation under the presumption legislation, provided such presumption isn’t contradicted by competent evidence. The proposed legislation would affect salaried and volunteer firefighters, Department of State Police and Department of Emergency Management frontline workers, and Department of Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division full-time workers with at least 12 years of experience.