Court Opinion

ID: 9843775
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:43:14.925791+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:55.221088
License: Public Domain

KAPSNER, Justice,
concurring.
[¶ 18] I agree with the legal analysis of the majority and the conclusion it reaches based upon the record before us.
[¶ 19] I write only to note that WSI exercised its discretion to foreclose introducing further evidence on the issue to be decided. The issue was whether the rehabilitation plan provided a reasonable opportunity for gainful employment. The plan was for Stenvold to get a job as a telemarketer/telephone solicitor. Between the interrupted hearing started on August 18 and continued on September 29, Sten-vold did get a job as a telemarketer, a job at which she had worked for a week prior to the second hearing date. She testified to the difficulties of pain, burning sensation, and numbness she experienced in her hands at the job. The ALJ made specific findings about the testimony. After only one week on the job, Stenvold offered no expert evidence regarding the difficulties she described. The hearing concluded September 29, the ALJ issued a recommended decision on November 29, and WSI issued its final order on December 7.
[¶ 20] In accordance with N.D.C.C. § 28-32-40, Stenvold requested reconsideration of WSI’s final order on December 30. Appended to the request for reconsideration were copies of medical records. Treating those documents as an offer of proof, it appears that if the matter were reopened, Stenvold would be able to introduce evidence that after the hearing she had obtained medical treatment and evaluation of the difficulties experienced at work and a further recommendation regarding continued employment at the job identified in her rehabilitation plan.
[¶ 21] Section 65-05-04, N.D.C.C., provides:
If the original claim for compensation has been made within the time specified in section 65-05-01, the organization at any time, on its own motion or on application, may review the award, and in accordance with the facts found on such review, may end, diminish, or increase the compensation previously awarded, or, if compensation has been refused or discontinued, may award compensation. There is no appeal from an organization decision not to reopen a claim after the organization’s order on the claim has become final.
[¶ 22] WSI chose not to reopen the matter and, as noted by the majority opinion, there was no effort made under N.D.C.C. § 28-32-45 to request the district court remand to introduce additional evidence before the agency. Whether to reopen a matter under N.D.C.C. § 65-05-04 is totally within WSI’s discretion and WSI may legally rely on procedural niceties to support its decision not to do so.
[¶ 23] However, when the precise issue to be determined is the appropriateness of a rehabilitation plan and there is evidence relating to the actual position prescribed, it smacks of an adversarial process to refuse to consider such evidence. Stenvold was, at the time of the hearing, engaged in a work trial and WSI was on notice by her testimony that there were problems. This Court has said: “Because the Bureau acts as both a fact finder and an advocate in *370considering a worker’s claim and in resolving conflicting evidence, we have repeatedly cautioned that the Bureau ‘must not place itself in a full adversary position to the claimant.’ ” Blanchard v. N.D. Workers Comp. Bureau, 1997 ND 118, ¶ 23, 565 N.W.2d 485 (quoting Hayes v. N.D. Workers Comp. Bureau, 425 N.W.2d 356, 357 (N.D.1988)).
[¶24] The Bureau’s obligation to adequately consider medical evidence is one distinction from the true adversarial process. Hayes, 425 N.W.2d at 357. “The adversarial concept has only limited application to claims for workers compensation benefits, and the Bureau must consider the entire medical record and adequately explain its reason for disregarding medical evidence favorable to the claimant.” Lesmeister v. N.D. Workers Comp. Bureau, 2003 ND 60, ¶ 20, 659 N.W.2d 350.
[¶ 25] It is regrettable that, under circumstances such as this, WSI would exercise its discretion in such fashion and decline to reopen the record for consideration of further medical evidence.
[¶ 26] Carol Ronning Kapsner, Mary Muehlen Maring.