Klein v. North Dakota Workers Comp. Bureau

• Decision Date: 18 October 2001
• Docket Number: No. 20010019.,20010019.
• Parties: Jeryle KLEIN, Claimant and Appellant v. NORTH DAKOTA WORKERS COMPENSATION BUREAU, Appellee and Lincoln-Oakes Nursery, Respondent.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

634 N.W.2d 530

2001 ND 170

Jeryle KLEIN, Claimant and Appellant v. NORTH DAKOTA WORKERS COMPENSATION BUREAU, Appellee and Lincoln-Oakes Nursery, Respondent.

No. 20010019.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

October 18, 2001.

Dean J. Haas, Dietz, Little & Haas, Bismarck, ND, for claimant and appellant.

Joseph F. Larson II (argued), Larson Law Firm, Jamestown, ND, for claimant and appellant.

Tracy Lynn Vigness Kolb (argued), Special Assistant Attorney General, Zuger Kirmis & Smith, Bismarck, ND, for appellee.

MARING, Justice.

[¶ 1] Jeryle Klein appeals from the district court's judgment affirming a North Dakota Workers Compensation Bureau decision dismissing his claim for benefits because it was not filed timely. We reverse the Bureau's decision and remand for appropriate action in accordance with this opinion.

I

[¶ 2] Klein began working as a nursery technician for Lincoln-Oakes Nursery in 1991. Sometime between 1993 and 1994, Klein began experiencing soreness in his knees. His symptoms gradually increased, and on October 14, 1996, Dr. David Larsen examined Klein and diagnosed him with severe degenerative arthritis in his left knee. Klein's medical history revealed that he had previously undergone surgery on his left knee in 1970. After Dr. Larsen examined Klein, he indicated in his notes that Klein would need a total knee replacement within five years. Two months later, on December 12, 1996, Klein had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. Dr. Larsen indicated in his records: "[Klein] needs a change of lifestyle [sic]. He needs to change his work and change his attitude about his knee. He cannot [sic] continue to abuse it, do heavy work and heavy lifting any longer." Klein testified he remembered Dr. Larsen informing him to avoid heavy lifting and to change his line of work. Dr. Larsen did not specifically advise him that his condition was work related. Eventually, on February 5, 1997, Klein had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, and Dr. Larsen reported in his records that his condition was advanced degenerative arthritis. Again, Dr. Larsen did not specifically advise Klein that his condition was work related.

[¶ 3] After his arthroscopic surgery in February 1997, Klein did not seek medical treatment for his knees again until March 1998 at which time Dr. Joseph Carlson informed him he would need bilateral knee replacement surgery. On December 17, 1998, Klein underwent the knee replacement surgery on both knees. During his recovery period, Lincoln-Oakes Nursery provided him with paid leave. Klein returned to work in February 1999, and his employer informed him on March 8, 1999, that he would only be paid for the hours he worked. Klein responded that he should have submitted a claim through the Workers Compensation Bureau since it would have continued to pay for his lost time.

[¶ 4] Klein filed a claim for Workers Compensation benefits on May 10, 1999, stating in his application that he experienced injuries to his left and right knees while working as a nursery technician. Klein did not specify the date of the injuries, but rather he indicated his injuries gradually developed in "XXXX-XXXX-XX." He further stated he sustained injury to his knees as a result of job responsibilities which required "long periods of time performing duties on concrete, bending, lifting, kneeling, climbing, etc. and working in extreme weather conditions." Lincoln-Oakes Nursery protested the claim on May 13, 1999, stating, "We were told for a number of years by [Klein] that the cause of his knee problems was arthritis...."

[¶ 5] On June 17, 1999, the Bureau dismissed Klein's claim, concluding his injury was not work related and his claim was not filed timely under N.D.C.C. § 65-05-01. After a formal hearing, an administrative law judge ("ALJ") concluded Klein's injury was compensable, but the claim was filed untimely because Klein should have known in 1996 or 1997 that his injuries were work related. The Bureau adopted the ALJ's decision on May 15, 2000, and Klein filed a petition for reconsideration and rehearing. On July 25, 2000, the Bureau denied Klein's petition. The district court affirmed the Bureau's decision, and Klein filed a Notice of Appeal on January 12, 2001.

II

[¶ 6] On appeal, we review the Bureau's decision and not the decision of the district court. N.D.C.C. §§ 28-32-19, 28-32-21. We affirm the Bureau's decision as long as its findings of fact are supported by a preponderance of evidence, its conclusions of law are supported by its findings of fact, its decision is supported by its conclusions of law, its decision is in accordance with the law, or its decision does not violate the claimant's constitutional rights or deprive the claimant of a fair hearing. N.D.C.C. §§ 28-32-19, 28-32-21; see also Robertson v. North Dakota Workers Comp. Bureau, 2000 ND 167, ¶ 8, 616 N.W.2d 844. Our review of the Bureau's findings of fact is limited to determining whether a reasoning mind reasonably could have determined the findings were proven by the weight of the evidence. Robertson, 2000 ND 167, ¶ 8, 616 N.W.2d 844. Questions of law, including an interpretation of a statute, are fully reviewable on appeal from a Bureau decision. Id.

III

[¶ 7] Klein argues the Bureau erroneously determined his claim was filed untimely because he did not know the arthritis in his knees was work related until April 1999, when Dr. Carlson informed him of the fact.

[¶ 8] From 1977 to 1993 the period for filing a workers compensation claim was one year from the first date a reasonable person knew or should have known the employee suffered a work-related injury. N.D.C.C. § 65-05-01 (1977). This standard, first enunciated in the 1977 amendment to § 65-05-01, triggers the commencement of the limitations period at the moment the claimant first has knowledge of the work-related injury. 1977 N.D. Sess. Laws ch. 579, § 8. Since the 1977 amendment, the statute has been the subject of several modifications, and we have traditionally construed it in favor of the insured workers so that benefits may be extended to all who are fairly entitled to them. White v. North Dakota Workers Comp. Bureau, 441 N.W.2d 908, 910 (N.D. 1989). In order to better understand the present statute, we will summarize the statutory and case law history.

[¶ 9] Section 65-05-01, N.D.C.C., was amended in 1977 to provide: "When the actual date of injury cannot be determined with certainty the date of injury shall be the first date that a reasonable person knew or should have known that the injury was related to employment." 1977 N.D. Sess. Laws ch. 579, § 8. This amendment effectively replaced former standards, including the need-for-medical-attention standard and the incapacity-for-work standard, with the reasonable person standard. Evjen v. North Dakota Workers Comp. Bureau, 429 N.W.2d 418, 420 (N.D.1988). Although the statute was later amended in 1979 and 1989, the version regarding the standard for determining whether a claim is filed timely remained unchanged. See 1979 N.D. Sess. Laws ch. 652, § 1; 1989 N.D. Sess. Laws ch. 766, § 2.

[¶ 10] A review of the cases interpreting the 1977 amendment to section 65-05-01 is helpful to our analysis of the return to the reasonable person standard in 1997. By adopting the reasonable person standard, the Legislature had in mind the ordinary reasonable lay person and not a person learned in medicine. Teegarden v. North Dakota Workmen's Comp. Bureau, 313 N.W.2d 716, 718 (N.D.1981). Therefore, the time period to file a claim for an injury, whose date of occurrence was not certain, began on the first day a reasonable person, not learned in medicine, knew or should have known that the injury was related to his employment. Id. Even though evidence may be sufficient to convince a claimant's doctor that work caused the injury, when a doctor does not articulate this causal relationship to the claimant, the ordinary person cannot expect to have such knowledge. Id. at 719. Because the claimant, in Teegarden, was not informed by his physician or anyone else that his respiratory disease was either caused by or related to his work, and because there was no evidence a worker comparable to the one in question should have known that his respiratory disease was caused by work or was work related, we concluded the Bureau had no reasonable basis to find the claimant filed an untimely claim. Id.

[¶ 11] In Evjen, we concluded the evidence supported a Bureau finding that the claimant knew or should have known his headaches were related to his work. 429 N.W.2d at 420. The claimant was told by his physician his headaches were causally related to his employment, and his physician recommended he stop working the afternoon shift because of these headaches. Id. We stated:

Unlike the claimant in Teegarden, Evjen received specific medical advice that his injury was related to his employment and also that it was a significant health problem. Without that advice, this would be a different case because headaches are fairly common afflictions often suffered by many from job stress. A reasonable lay person would not immediately file a claim for compensation upon learning that occasional headaches were work-related.

Id.

[¶ 12] Our Teegarden and Evjen decisions concluded "the Legislature had in mind the ordinary reasonable lay person and not a person learned in medicine." Evjen, 429 N.W.2d at 419 (quoting Teegarden, 313 N.W.2d at 718). We further concluded: "[t]he Workmen's Compensation Act is primarily concerned with `the wellbeing of its wage earners.'" Teegarden, 313 N.W.2d at 718 (quoting N.D.C.C. § 65-01-01). It is only logical to conclude that the term "reasonable person" refers to a wage worker. Consequently the term "`reasonable' varies and takes on full meaning from the setting of the employment and the degree of skill or type of skill and knowledge needed to satisfactorily perform the job." Teegarden, 313 N.W.2d at 718. Also included within the...