Barrett v. D & H Drywall

Claimant petitions for review the order of the Workers’ Compensation Board, claiming that the Board erred in failing to consider his preexisting arthritis in determining the extent of his permanent disability. We reverse.1

Claimant is a 42-year-old man and has worked for 19 years as a sheetrock taper. In 1960, while he was in the service, he injured his low back in a jeep accident and has had occasional difficulties with his back since then. However, he was asymptomatic for some time before the accident in this case.

On June 5,1980, he fell four feet from a ladder onto a concrete floor, landing…