Opinion
WCB No. 79-10,812, CA 18743
Argued and submitted December 17, 1980
Affirmed January 26, 1981 Reconsideration allowed, former opinion withdrawn, reversed and remanded ( 51 Or. App. 361, 625 P.2d 666) March 23, 1981
Judicial Review from Workers' Compensation Board.
Benton Flaxel, North Bend, argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the brief was Flaxel, Todd Nylander, North Bend.
Darrell E. Bewley, Appellate Counsel, SAIF, Salem, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were K. R. Maloney, General Counsel, and James A. Blevins, Chief Trial Counsel, SAIF, Salem.
Before Joseph, Presiding Judge, and Warden and Warren, Judges.
PER CURIAM
Affirmed.
In denying claimant's aggravation claim based on a low back strain incurred off the job while picking up a piece of firewood, the Workers' Compensation Board and the referee relied primarily on the reference in a doctor's report to "recurrent attacks of backache, dating as far as 1975" to establish a lack of causal relationship between the 1979 event and the original on-the-job injury in 1977, for which claimant had received a 30 percent unscheduled permanent disability award. While claimant has persuaded us that that reference was a mistaken reading of the file, the medical record clearly shows that no permanent worsening of claimant's back condition occurred as a result of the 1979 incident. Furthermore, we find no basis in the record to support the statement in the Referee's opinion that SAIF had conceded the issue of worsening and was only contesting causation.
Affirmed.