Organista, Ruben

Applicant Ruben Organista sought SIBTF benefits under Labor Code section 4751, claiming a preexisting labor-disabling permanent partial disability to his right knee (from a 1973-1976 knee injury culminating in knee replacement) combined with his 1996 subsequent industrial injury to his neck, back, hip, and right shoulder. The WCJ denied SIBTF benefits, finding applicant failed to prove the level of preexisting disability because there were no contemporaneous medical reports detailing the factors of disability from the old knee injury. The WCAB granted reconsideration, holding there is no requirement that the level of preexisting permanent partial disability be proven by contemporaneous medical evidence. The Board corrected clerical errors (date of injury from 1966 to 1996 and preexisting body part from hip to right knee), affirmed that applicant had a preexisting permanent partial disability to the right knee, and deferred the issue of the level of that disability. The matter was remanded to the trial level to develop the record on the level of preexisting disability.