Aggravation Outside Covered Employment of Prior Industrial Injury Is Compensable

Authors

anon

Abstract

In 1955, claimant suffered a sacroiliac strain while working within employment covered by the Washington Industrial Insurance Act. His compensation claim was closed with an award of $1,800 and a determination of thirty per cent permanent partial disability. Three years later, while visiting a relative, claimant unloaded some heavy sacks of grain and carried them from a truck into a storage building. He was obliged to undergo medical treatment the next day for pain and stiffness in his back. Claimant's application to readjust his previous award was rejected by the Department of Labor and Industries on the ground that he had sustained a new injury while working outside covered employment. The Department's position was upheld by the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals and the trial court. On appeal, the Washington Supreme Court reversed and remanded. Held: If a claimant acts reasonably in light of a disability which has resulted from a previously compensated industrial injury, subsequent aggravation suffered outside covered employment is attributable to that disability. McDougle v. Department of Labor & Indus., 64 Wn.2d 653, 393 P.2d 631 (1964).

First Page

216

Recommended Citation

anon, Comment, Aggravation Outside Covered Employment of Prior Industrial Injury Is Compensable, 40 Wash. L. Rev. 216 (1965).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol40/iss1/11