Opinion
WCB 93-06575; CA A86428
Argued and submitted October 30, 1995.
Reversed and remanded for reconsideration January 3, 1996.
Judicial Review from Workers' Compensation Board.
Julene Quinn argued the cause for petitioners. On the brief were Theodore R. Kulongoski, Attorney General, Virginia L. Linder, Solicitor General, and David L. Runner, Assistant Attorney General.
James L. Edmunson filed the brief for respondent.
Before Riggs, Presiding Judge, and Landau and Leeson, Judges.
PER CURIAM
Reversed and remanded for reconsideration.
SAIF seeks review of an order of the Workers' Compensation Board holding that claimant's preexisting facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy has been made worse by his employment and is therefore compensable.
The Board found that claimant's employment is the major contributing cause of the worsening of his preexisting condition. That finding is supported by substantial evidence. As amended by the legislature in 1995, ORS 656.802(2) provides:
"If the occupational disease claim is based on the worsening of a preexisting disease or condition pursuant to ORS 656.005(7), the worker must prove that employment conditions were the major contributing cause of the combined condition and pathological worsening of the disease." (Emphasis supplied.)
The amendment is applicable to all cases pending on review. Volk v. America West Airlines, 135 Or. App. 565, 899 P.2d 746 (1995). The Board's opinion does not make a determination as to whether employment conditions were the major contributing cause of claimant's combined condition. Accordingly, the case is remanded for reconsideration.
Reversed and remanded for reconsideration.