Don Francisco's Case

While acting within the scope of his employment on June 3, 1969, the employee fell twenty feet from staging to the ground. He sustained a neck injury for which the insurer paid almost three weeks’ compensation. The employee returned to work without restrictions on his activities, stopping on May 8, 1978. He has not worked since that date. A single member of the Industrial Accident Board, whose findings were affirmed and adopted by the reviewing board (board), found that on May 8, 1978, the employee was totally disabled “as a direct result of degenerative changes set in motion by [the 1969]…