Noble County Highway Department v. Sorgenfrei

We review an Industrial Board award of death benefits to appellee Kathleen Sorgenfrei for the death of her husband, Max. The issue before us is whether the death was a result of the industrial accident in the light of a preexisting leukemic condition.

The facts are essentially undisputed: Max Sorgenfrei was employed by the Noble County Highway Department as a laborer. He had been in apparent good health, as was evidenced by the fact that between 1945 and the accident on May 14, 1969, he had visited the doctor only once, for gall bladder surgery in 1965. He made a full recovery from that…