Fries v. Kalamazoo Stove & Furnace Co.

Plaintiff claims a disability from earning full wages at his molding trade as a result of emphysema caused by years of exposure to silica dust in his employment, entitling him to compensation. He says the basic question is “whether plaintiff’s admitted disabling emphysema is due to years of exposure to foundry dust or merely to getting old.”

In its opinion denying compensation the commission stated that there was no serious dispute that plaintiff has a mild to moderate emphysema and a generalized arteriosclerosis and that a diagnosis of silicosis could not be made from the X-rays. It found as…