Rockford Transit Corp. v. Industrial Commission

I. C. Head, an employee of the Rockford Transit Corporation, filed a claim under the Workmen’s Occupational Diseases Act for disability due to emphysema. An award was confirmed by the circuit court of Winnebago County, and the employer appeals directly to this court. The question is whether aggravation of the disease by the conditions of his employment is compensable under the circumstances shown by the evidence.

The facts are largely undisputed. The claimant was 49 years of age and had worked in the employer’s garage for 19 years, usually in the pits under buses. His duties involved…