Amico

In these proceedings petitioner seeks review of the decision after reconsideration of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeals Board holding, contrary to the findings and award of the referee, that the award for petitioner’s acknowledged permanent disability, rated at 45V2 percent, should be reduced to 32 percént by apportioning 30 percent to the combined effects of surgery, necessitated by an injury in 1950 for which petitioner was compensated, and an alleged natural progression of a degenerative condition. Petitioner and amicus curiae on his behalf assert that since the applicant’s uncontradicted testimony establishes that he had achieved complete rehabilitation from a prior injury, the board cannot, in the absence of qualified evidence to the contrary, order apportionment to the prior injury. The fundamental question is whether the decision of the appeals board is supported by substantial evidence. A review of the record indicates that it is not. The decision and award after reconsideration must be annulled.

I

On May 12, 1950, as the result of an industrial accident the petitioner, who was born February 4, 1921, and spent all of his adult life as a carpenter, suffered an…