Court Opinion

ID: 9580111
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:01:57.518903+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:02.528215
License: Public Domain

MESCHKE, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Rieniets had received no workers’ compensation benefits since September 1988, until he was injured on June 23, 1990. In June 1990, he was employed full time “without experiencing any difficulty with his right knee.” Therefore, I do not understand how the Bureau could claim, under the Elliott-Balliet test and the amended statute, that he had a preexisting disabling condition, an active disability, or an active impairment.
Without any continuing active disability or impairment, I’m puzzled how res judicata can affect his June 1990 injury. In Lass v. North Dakota Workmen’s Compensation Bureau, 415 N.W.2d 796, 800 (N.D.1987), we clarified that the Bureau could not, by decision, “preclude[] benefits in the future, to which [a claimant] might otherwise be entitled, based upon a change in his medical condition.” Having recovered from his prior injuries, I do not understand how Rieniets can be precluded from full benefits for a new injury.