Special Disability Trust Fund v. Northwest Airlines

If the Special Disability Trust Fund statute requires nothing less in all cases than an employer’s actual knowledge as a precondition to Fund reimbursement, I could readily agree with the majority’s decision to reverse. Admittedly, there is nothing in the record disclosing Northwest Airlines’ actual knowledge of its employee’s permanent preexisting condition before the occurrence of his second injury in 1991. Nevertheless, the record amply supports imputed knowledge of the preexisting condition.

In the typical case of Fund involvement, the worker initially brings a prior permanent impairment…