Court Opinion

ID: 9694100
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:23:03.253565+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:56.256455
License: Public Domain

KELLY, Justice
(dissenting).
By reason of Minn.St. 176.141 and 176.-521, subd. 3, the compensation court may vacate an award based on a settlement “for cause.” We have held that “cause” exists in cases involving (a) fraud, (b) mistake, (c) newly discovered evidence, and (d) substantial change in the employee’s condition. Wollschlager v. Standard Const. Co., 300 Minn. 550, 220 N.W.2d 346 (1974). The basic underlying concern in a determination of cause sufficient to set aside an award is “to assure a compensation proportionate to the degree and duration of disability.” Elsenpeter v. Potvin, 213 Minn. 129, 132, 5 N.W.2d 499, 501 (1942); Bohnhoff v. Allan Engineering Co., 304 Minn. 587, 231 N.W.2d 554 (1975).
In this case the compensation court ordered the award vacated on grounds of a material change in the employee’s condition and in the interest of justice. My review of the record leads to the conclusion that employee’s showing that his condition worsened substantially during the years following the award was not strong, but that the showing presents the strong probability that at the time of the settlement both parties mistakenly underrated the extent of employee’s disability. Such a mistake would prevent him from obtaining compensation proportionate to his disability and thus justified the vacation of the award. Mattson v. Abate, 279 Minn. 287, 156 N.W.2d 738 (1968).