Court Opinion

ID: 9513953
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:42:37.530974+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:06.479079
License: Public Domain

SANDSTROM, Justice,
dissenting.
[¶ 36] I respectfully dissent.
I
[¶ 37] Under N.D.C.C. § 28-32-46, we must affirm the order of an administrative agency unless any of the following are present:
1. The order is not in accordance with the law.
2. The order is in violation of the constitutional rights of the appellant.
3. The provisions of this chapter have not been complied with in the proceedings before the agency.
4. The rules or procedure of the agency have not afforded the appellant a fair hearing.
5. The findings of fact made by the agency are not supported by a preponderance of the evidence.
6. The conclusions of law and order of the agency are not supported by its findings of fact.
7. The findings of fact made by the agency do not sufficiently address the evidence presented to the agency by the appellant.
8. The conclusions of law and order of the agency do not sufficiently explain the agency’s rationale for not adopting any contrary recommendations by a hearing officer or an administrative law judge.
[¶ 38] In 1977, the legislature amended the statute1 to add subsection 5, adding the factor that the “findings of fact made by the agency are not supported by a preponderance of the evidence.” In Power Fuels, Inc. v. Elkin, 283 N.W.2d 214, 220-21 (N.D.1979), this Court held that to avoid constitutional infirmity in applying the subsection, either by violating the doctrine of separation of powers or by exercising a nonjudicial function, “we do not make independent findings of fact or substitute our judgment for that of the agency. We determine only whether a reasoning mind reasonably could have determined that the factual conclusions reached were proved by the weight of the evidence from the entire record.”
[¶ 39] In 2001, the legislature amended the statute by adding subsection 7, *904that the “findings of fact made by the agency do not sufficiently address the evidence presented to the agency by the appellant.” The rationale of Power Fuels applies equally to this subsection: we do not reweigh the evidence or substitute our judgment for that of the agency. We determine only whether a reasoning mind reasonably could have determined that the agency had sufficiently addressed the evidence presented by the appellant. See id. at 220.
[¶ 40] I understand the majority adheres to these principles.
II
[¶41] The crux of my disagreement with the majority here is the meaning of the ALJ’s words adopted by the department:
[W]hile I assume, of course, that Dr. Killen’s advice concerning the nature and effect of the bony degenerative changes she identified in the cervical and thoracic portions of Swenson’s spine and the effect of 15-years’ work as a laborer in the oil fields upon the human spine are based upon her education, training, and experience, particularly her experience treating persons who have spent their working lives in the oil fields, and recognize her specialized training, education, and experience for the practice of physical medicine and rehabilitation and her more comprehensive knowledge as Swenson’s treating physician, considered together her advice and opinion is substantially anecdotal as based upon her experience treating patients. Experts should have experience. Generally, as a matter of experience and consistent with the advice of the supreme court, the advice and opinion of a practicing physician, especially a treating physician, is to be preferred to, for example, a medical school instructor or a consulting physician who does not treat patients for the injuries or diseases for which he or she offers advice and opinions. But anecdotal evidence, even from a treating physician, is nonetheless unscientific and untested. Moreover, its interpretation and application cannot be evaluated for a particular case without some supporting evidence which comes with a hallmark of scientific authority such as, for example, a treatise or a published report of a study.
(Emphasis added by the majority.) If these words reflect that as a matter of law the department concluded it cannot accept as competent evidence the testimony of a medical witness that is not supported by treatise, published report of a study, or other scientific authority, then the department erred as a matter of law. If, on the other hand, the department used the lack of treatise or other scientific authority supporting the testimony of one witness and the existence of such support for the testimony of the other witness as the basis for choosing to accept one over the other, then it is the legitimate and appropriate function of the fact-finder. I believe the fair reading of the words is that the fact-finder did not reject the unsupported testimony as a matter of law, but used the lack of support as a reasonable factor in deciding which testimony to accept.
Ill
[¶ 42] I would, therefore, affirm.
[¶ 43] Dale V. Sandstrom

. What is now codified as N.D.C.C. § 28-32-46 was previously codified as N.D.C.C. § 28-32-19.