Hopkins v. SAIF Corp.

This case requires that we determine the legislature’s meaning of the term “arthritis” in ORS 656.005(24)(a)(A). We conclude that, in defining preexisting conditions for workers’ compensation claims, the legislature intended the term “arthritis” to mean the inflammation of one or more joints, due to infectious, metabolic, or constitutional 1 causes, and resulting in breakdown, degeneration, or structural change. We also decide that the evidence in the record was sufficient to permit the Workers’ Compensation Board (board) to find that, at the time of her work-related injury, petitioner…