Court Opinion

ID: 9674704
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:34:12.919643+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:29.251276
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Justice,
concurring specially.
I believe the majority opinion and the district court’s opinion come dangerously close to a de novo review of the decision of the Workmen’s Compensation Bureau rather than the standard of review prescribed by this court in Power Fuels, Inc. v. Elkin, 283 N.W.2d 214 (N.D.1979). However, I am convinced that the Bureau ignored the evidence of Roberts’s actual injuries and the manner in which they were sustained because of the evidence relative to her hysterical personality with hypochondriacal neuroses. See also Roberts v. North Dakota Workmen's Compensation Bureau, 326 N.W.2d 201 (N.D.1982). I therefore agree with the majority that the Bureau’s finding that Roberts’s injuries were not causally related to her employment is not supported by a preponderance of the evidence.
I am concerned about that portion of the opinion which sustains the trial court’s determination, apparently after a de novo review on the record, that “the claimant is awarded and is to be furnished medical and hospital costs in connection with her injury of May 5,1978 pursuant to 65-05-07 NDCC and other related statutes” and “the claimant is entitled under 65-05-09 NDCC to disability compensation for temporary total disability from May 10, 1978 until July 7, 1978.” Because the Bureau determined that Roberts failed to prove that her condition was causally related to her employment, the Bureau made no findings as to the amount of compensation and the period for which such compensation should be paid and these issues therefore were not decided by the Bureau. Logic would indicate, at least to me, that the matter should be remanded to the Bureau for a determination as to the amount of compensation and the period for which such compensation should be paid. As the majority opinion notes, there is scant evidence in the record on this *708issue.1 I do not know the amount of compensation Roberts should receive nor the period during which she should receive it. It may be that Roberts is entitled to compensation for a period less than that prescribed by the trial court or it may be that Roberts would urge that she be compensated for a period longer than that prescribed by the trial court. It appears to me that this is a matter which should be determined initially by the Bureau, not the trial court nor this court.
After having said this, I point out that Section 65-10-02, N.D.C.C., provides:
“On appeal, the court shall determine the right of the claimant. If it determines the right in the claimant’s favor, it shall fix his compensation within the limits prescribed in this title, and any final judgment so obtained shall be paid by the bureau out of the fund in the same manner as awards are paid.”
This statutory provision was part of the original Workmen’s Compensation Act and has not been amended since its enactment. See 1919 N.D.Sess.Laws, Chapter 162, Section 17. In a series of cases this court upheld the authority of the district court to fix the compensation on an appeal by a claimant from a decision of the Bureau. See Gotchy v. North Dakota Workmen’s Compensation Bureau, 49 N.D. 915, 194 N.W. 663 (1923); Hanson v. North Dakota Workmen's C. Bureau, 63 N.D. 479, 248 N.W. 680 (1933); Pearce v. North Dakota Workmen’s C. Bureau, 68 N.D. 318, 279 N.W. 601 (1938); Burkhardt v. State, 78 N.D. 818, 53 N.W.2d 394 (1952).2
All of these cases, with the exception of Burkhardt, were decided prior to the enactment in 1941 (N.D.Sess.Laws, Chapter 240) of the Administrative Agencies Practice Act, Chapter 28-32, N.D.C.C. Appeals from decisions of the Bureau are now subject to Chapter 28-32. See Section 65-10-01, N.D.C.C. Judge Christianson dissented in Burkhardt, although not specifically with regard to Section 65-10-02, noting that the adoption of the Administrative Agencies Practice Act wrought fundamental changes in the scope of review and the procedure on appeal from a determination of the Bureau. This court has in later years consistently recognized the limited review the trial court and this court may exercise on appeal from a determination of the Bureau and we have been aware of the constitutional issues that would arise by requiring the court to substitute its judgment for that of the administrative agency. See Power Fuels, Inc. v. Elkin, supra.
Although I believe there are some pragmatic as well as some constitutional questions involved in those instances in which a trial court makes findings of fact from a record transmitted from an administrative agency, particularly in areas in which the agency has not considered the precise matter, I realize that Section 65-10-02, N.D. C.C., appears to authorize the procedure followed by the district court. Neither Roberts nor the Bureau raised this precise issue on appeal and there has been no attack on the constitutionality of Section 65-10-02. I therefore reluctantly concur in the disposition made by the majority opinion. I suggest, however, that the relationship between Section 65-10-02 and Chapter 28-32 and the function of the district court on appeal from a determination by the Bureau *709are matters which should be examined by the Legislature.
PEDERSON, J., concurs.

. Section 65-10-01, N.D.C.C., provides that the appeal to the district court shall be heard on the record transmitted from the Bureau but also provides that in the discretion of the court, additional evidence may be presented pertaining to the questions of law involved in the appeal. Section 28-32-18, N.D.C.C., a portion of the Administrative Agencies Practice Act, authorizes the district court to permit additional evidence to be taken before the administrative agency if an application for leave to adduce additional evidence is made to the court. Apparently neither procedure was followed in this instance and the findings of the trial court are based entirely on the record transmitted to it by the Bureau.

. In Pearce, the court stated:
“The statute does not contemplate that the bureau may deny a right to participate and then when the district court on appeal finds otherwise, that the bureau may require the matter to be sent back to it for the determination of the amount of the claim.” 68 N.D. at 327, 279 N.W. at 605.