Second Injury Fund v. Stephens

John F. Stroud, Jr., Judge.

The Second Injury Fund appeals a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Commission holding it liable for a twenty percent wage-loss disability awarded to Billy Stephens, a thirty-four-year-old welder with an eighth-grade education. We affirm the Commission’s decision.

The parties do not dispute the facts in this case. Mr. Stephens was assigned a ten percent permanent physical impairment rating as a result of a 1987 compensable back injury and two 1988 surgeries related to the injury. In 1993 he began working for Trailmobile, Inc., where he suffered another compensable…