Opinion
April 19, 1971
Appeal by the self-insured employer and the Special Disability Fund under subdivision 8 of section 15 Work. Comp. of the Workmen's Compensation Law from a decision of the Workmen's Compensation Board, filed November 14, 1969, on the ground there is no substantial evidence that claimant's reduced earning capacity resulted from his disability. Claimant, a laborer, sustained a compensable injury to his back in 1958. Compensation was awarded for disability and reduced earnings based upon a classification of causally related permanent partial disability for various periods until 1967, when claimant's wages at lighter work exceeded his preaccident average weekly wage. He suffered a heart attack on February 7, 1968, and subsequently retired solely because of his unrelated heart condition. We find no evidence in the record to support the board's finding that claimant's loss of earnings subsequent to February 7, 1968 was causally related to the disability resulting from the back injury. It is well settled that if reduced earnings are caused solely by claimant's old age, the general economic conditions or any other factor unconnected with his disability, claimant is not entitled to an award. ( Matter of Lovell v. Berman's Motor Express, 35 A.D.2d 765; Matter of Roberts v. General Elec. Co., 6 A.D.2d 43.) Decision reversed, and claim dismissed, without costs. Herlihy, P.J., Reynolds, Staley, Jr., Greenblott and Sweeney, JJ., concur.