Employers Mutual Liability Insurance v. Industrial Commission

That there was a previous injury which affected the physical ability of Klemp, one of the respondents here, is conceded. The appellants claim that there was a pre-existing condition predisposing his knee to injury, and that that was the proximate cause of the disability, and that the subsequent disability is therefore not compensable.

The effect of a disease or infirmity existing before an accident occurs is to be separated from the effect of the later injury so far as that is possible in the administration of the workmen’s compensation law. Stombaugh v. Peerless Wire Fence Co. 198 Mich. 445,…