Court Opinion

ID: 9528569
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:42:07.345059+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:03.327062
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Justice,
concurring specially.
While I concur in the Court’s opinion, the use of the Commission’s conclusions of law as the rationale for our decision deprives the opinion of reference to more recent decisions of this Court that I find to be dispositive.
The Commission’s decision was dated September 9, 1988. The decision cites our opinion in Johnson v. Bennett Lumber Co., No. 16523, Opin. No. 79 (Idaho July 7, 1987). In that version of the Johnson opinion, the Court reversed the decision of the Commission in which the Commission concluded that the claimant’s condition was not caused by an accident. The employer and its surety petitioned for rehearing, which the Court granted. Following rehearing, the Court issued a new opinion affirming, rather than reversing, the Commission’s decision. Johnson v. Bennett Lumber Co., 115 Idaho 241, 766 P.2d 711 (1988).
In the final version of Johnson, the Court noted that the claimant has the burden of proving not only that the claimant was injured, but also that the injury resulted from an accident arising out of and in the course of the claimant’s employment. Id. at 244, 766 P.2d at 714.
In 1989, we issued our opinion in Vernon v. Omark Indus., 115 Idaho 486, 767 P.2d 1261 (1989) (Vernon II. Vernon I is reported at 113 Idaho 358, 744 P.2d 86 (1987).) In Vernon II, the Court reiterated the claimant’s burden of proof as stated in Johnson. The Court upheld the Commission’s decision that the claimant had failed to sustain the burden of proving that the claimant suffered an accident connected with the claimant’s employment that caused the claimant’s injury. 115 Idaho at 488, 767 P.2d at 1263.
I base my concurrence with the Court’s decision in this case on Johnson and Vernon II.
McDEVITT, J., concurs.