Garrote v. Industrial Commission

OPINION

SCHROEDER, Judge.

This is a review of an Industrial Commission award denying benefits. The dispositive question is whether the hearing officer properly denied a reopening after finding that petitioner suffered from a disability which was in existence at the time of the prior closing of his claim but which had not been diagnosed by any doctor at that time. We hold that under the circumstances of this case, the hearing officer should have granted a reopening on the basis of a “previously undiscovered” condition, and we set aside the award.

The petitioner, Efren A. Garrote, suffered an…