| 1:30pm | Thursday, December 20, 2007 | |||||||||
| 20070173 |
Catherine Manske, Claimant and Appellant v. Workforce Safety and Insurance, Appellee and Northern States Power Company a/k/a Xcel Energy, Respondent | |||||||||
| Appeal from: | Northeast Central Judicial District, Grand Forks County, Judge Lawrence E. Jahnke | |||||||||
| Nature of Action: | Workers Compensation | |||||||||
| Counsel: |
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| Issues: | Appellant's Statement of the Issues: A. North Dakota law providing for workers compensation benefits is "remedial legislation", and Workforce Safety & Insurance may not permissibly "place itself in a position fully adversary to the claimant." B. In resolving conflicts in medical evidence in cases before it, Workforce Safety & Insurance "must consider the entire record, clarify inconsistencies and explain its reasons for disregarding medical evidence favorable to the claimant." C. In order to establish a causal connection between a particular injury, and a workers employment, for the purpose of entitlement to workers compensation benefits in North Dakota, a claimant need not prove that the `employment was the sole cause of injury and it is sufficient if the working condition is a substantial contributing factor to the injury." D. The final decision of Workforce Safety & Insurance in this case must be vacated, and reversed, where "a reasoning mind" could not have reasonably concluded that claimant Catherine Manske had failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that her late husband's occupational asbestos exposure was not at least a "substantial contributing factor" in causing the lung cancer which took Robert Manske's life. Appellee's Statement of the Issues: | |||||||||
| Briefs: |
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Generated from Supreme Court Docket on 12/31/2007 | ||||||||||