Opinion
January 9, 1952.
Appeal from Workmen's Compensation Board.
Present — Foster, P.J., Heffernan, Brewster, Bergan and Coon JJ.
Claimant was employed by the appellant Curtiss-Wright Company as a laborer. He there came in contact with chromium paint and other chemicals and contracted dermatitis. During a portion of the summer of 1942 he was totally disabled as a result of this, and then partially disabled. An award of compensation was made against Curtiss-Wright in 1944, at which time it was noted that his skin was clear. He continued to work for that company until 1945. In a previous employment in 1941 he had suffered a similar disability. In 1946 he went to work for Norton Laboratories, Inc. While working there the dermatitis flared up, but claimant continued to work. On March 28, 1947, he became disabled as a result of dermatitis and was required to stop work. The award in its final form has been made against Curtiss-Wright, although the original award was directed against Norton Laboratories. The usual rule is, as appellants argue, that the employer at the time of disablement is liable in the first instance for compensation in this kind of an occupational disease, although the initial liability sometimes may be apportioned. But it has been found here as a fact by the board that claimant's disability from dermatitis beginning in March, 1947, was due "solely" to his employment with Curtiss-Wright and "was not attributable to his employment with Norton Laboratories." This is a sharply disputed fact. There is strong proof in the record that claimant contracted a chemical dermatitis in the Norton employment which caused reactivation of his condition. But there is medical opinion in the record which reaches two conclusions: (a) that the kind of exposure in the Norton employment did not cause the activation of the severe dermatitis suffered in March, 1947; and (b) that it was a result of the exposure in the Curtiss-Wright employment which had ended two years before. We thus have a factual support for the findings of the board which is not open to our review or revision. Award unanimously affirmed, with costs to respondents Norton Laboratories and the American Mutual Liability Insurance Company.