Lucas v. Burlington Industries

VAUGHN, Judge.

Plaintiff first argues that the Commission erred in setting aside the hearing commissioner’s conclusion of law that plaintiff suffered from an occupational disease without reaching its own conclusion on the issue. We disagree. The dispositive question is whether plaintiff’s capacity to earn wages has been diminished. Mills v. J. P. Stevens & Co., 53 N.C. App. 341, 280 S.E. 2d 802 (1981). In the present cause, the Commission considered plaintiff’s physical symptoms and found that she may have had bronchitis in part due to cotton dust exposure. It also found, however, that…