Gerba v. BD. OF TRUSTEES, PUBLIC EMPLOYEES'RETIREM. SYS.

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

HANDLER, J.

The issue presented by this appeal is whether an accidental disability retirement pension may be granted to a public employee under the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS), N.J.S.A. 43:15A-1 et seq., where it appears that the particular employee’s disability was caused by traumatic physical injury combined with a preexisting arthritic condition. In the specific terms of the statutory provision governing PERS accidental disability retirements, N.J.S.A. 43:15A-43, the question is whether such a disability can be considered “accidental”…