Briggs v. State Accident Insurance Fund

This is an appeal by the State Accident Insurance Fund from a circuit court order finding claimant to be permanently totally disabled. The referee had also so found, but the Workers’ Compensation Board had reduced the award to 30 percent unscheduled low back disability.

On October 24, 1974, claimant, then a 61-year-old assistant cook in a school cafeteria, suffered sudden low back pain when rising from a stooped position while removing a pan of food from a low oven. She worked the remainder of the day and then went to her physician.

During the preceding May, claimant had suffered an upper back…