Court Opinion

ID: 9582581
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:28:59.563507+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:59.797012
License: Public Domain

Brazil, J.,
dissenting: I respectfully dissent. The majority limits the determination of parentage in a workers compensation case to the award of workers compensation benefits only. This means that parentage must be relitigated by the heirs if, as in this case, the worker is deceased and there are other assets, insurance benefits, social security benefits, etc. Of course, there is a real *754possibility that parentage might be decided differently before a different court applying a different evidentiary standard.
The Kansas Parentage Act, K.S.A. 38-1110 et seq., provides a comprehensive framework for determining paternity. The purpose of the Act is to serve the best interests of the child and to ensure that all legal rights and obligations of a parent-child relationship are carried out. In re Marriage of Ross, 245 Kan. 591, Syl. ¶ 1, 783 P.2d 331 (1989).
I would require a formal paternity action and a judicial declaration of paternity prior to an award of workers compensation benefits. Courts are more familiar with the procedures and evidentiary standards that should be employed in such a case. Moreover, the use of hearsay testimony can be more strictly controlled in a judicial proceeding.
In the alternative, the administrative law judge should be encouraged to use the presumptions of paternity and evidentiary standards set out in K.S.A. 38-1114 and K.S.A. 1991 Supp. 38-1119(a).