Nicholas Lechner v. North Dakota Workforce Safety and Insurance

Summary

The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed a district court judgment upholding an administrative order denying Nicholas Lechner workers’ compensation benefits. The court held that the administrative law judge’s finding that Lechner failed to file his claim within the statutory one-year period was supported by a preponderance of the evidence. Because the claim was untimely, the court did not reach whether Lechner had established a compensable injury.

Holdings

1. A workers' compensation claim is untimely when it is not filed within one year after the first date a reasonable lay person, not learned in medicine, knew or should have known that the claimant suffered a compensable work-related injury and had either lost wages because of resulting disability or received medical treatment. On this record, Lechner knew or should have known of his compensable work-related injury on December 5, 2013, making his May 5, 2016 claim untimely.
2. An agency order must be affirmed when its factual findings are supported by a preponderance of the evidence, and the reviewing court may not make independent factual findings.
3. The Court did not decide whether Lechner proved that he suffered a compensable injury because the claim was untimely.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Lechner timely filed his workers' compensation claim under N.D.C.C. § 65-05-01.
2. Whether the administrative law judge's finding that Lechner knew or should have known in December 2013 that he suffered a compensable work-related injury was supported by a preponderance of the evidence.
3. Whether Lechner proved that he suffered a compensable work-related injury.

Disposition

affirmed