Court Opinion

ID: 9670400
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:19:55.486194+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:04.197603
License: Public Domain

YETKA, Justice
(dissenting).
I would affirm the court of appeals because I think it clearly acted within its authority to apply the Hanson v. Robitshek-Schneider Co., 209 Minn. 596, 297 N.W. 19 (1941), and Sweet v. Kolosky, 259 Minn. 253, 106 N.W.2d 908 (1960), decisions. The facts are not in dispute in this case; thus, the court applied its understanding of the law to those facts. It is this court which is exceeding its normal appellate review rules in overturning the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals, not the latter in reversing the compensation judge.
This was a high-crime area. The company knew that when it located its plant there. The employee was engaged in a special project that required him to work at night after regular hours. Thus, even though the majority opinion correctly points out that the statutes no longer require a liberal construction in favor of the employee, the court of appeals properly applied existing law. They did nothing more than this court has been doing in workers’ compensation cases for 70 years. Applying existing law is not a radical departure from the past.
*785Moreover, in my opinion, the facts here make a far more compelling case than those in Hanson and Sweet where compensation was paid. In Sweet, for example, the employee was actually out on a coffee break.
In my view, the majority opinion creates a great uncertainty in the entire compensation law field. The opinion signals that this court will engage in fact-finding of its own in these cases and will not hesitate to substitute its findings for those of the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals in so doing. We have frequently criticized the Minnesota Court of Appeals for engaging in that same practice. We should follow our own advice on the subject.