ANDREW LEVINSKI, Employee, v. JODY ENTERS., UNINSURED, Employer, and SPECIAL COMP. FUND, Appellant.

 

WORKERS= COMPENSATION COURT OF APPEALS

MAY 9, 2005

 

No. WC05-107

 

HEADNOTES

 

PRACTICE & PROCEDURE - EXPEDITED HEARING.  Where the hearing was set on an expedited basis under Minn. Stat ' 176.106, subd. 7, the compensation judge did not err in refusing to expand the issues.

 

Affirmed.

 

Determined by: Stofferahn, J., Pederson, J., and Rykken, J.

Compensation Judge: Nancy Olson

 

Attorneys: John R. Malone, St. Cloud, MN, for Respondent Employee.  John T. Brandt, Hopkins, MN, for Respondent Employer.  Thaddeus V. Jude, St. Paul, MN, for the Appellant.

 

 

OPINION

 

DAVID A. STOFFERAHN, Judge

 

The Special Compensation Fund (Fund) appeals from the compensation judge=s decision ordering payment of medical bills pursuant to a stipulation without considering the Fund=s petition for contribution or primary liability defense.  We affirm.

 

BACKGROUND

 

On August 13, 1987, the employee, Andrew Levinski, sustained a work injury while employed by Jody Enterprises.  The employer was uninsured for workers= compensation liability and responsibility for benefits was accepted by the Fund pursuant to a temporary order issued on January 8, 1988, in accordance with Minn. Stat. ' 176.191, subd. 1.  The temporary order required the Fund to pay wage loss benefits and medical expenses.  The Fund maintained its right to bring claims against the employer Afollowing a final determination of liability.@  Subsequently, the Fund and the employee entered into an agreement which was the subject of an Award on Stipulation issued on August 31, 1988.

 

The Stipulation provided that the employee closed out all claims relating to his 1987 work injury except for medical expenses in return for a payment by the Fund of $20,000.  The Fund also agreed to Acontinue to pay reasonable and necessary medical expenses related to the claimed injury herein.@  The Fund also retained its rights to subrogation and reimbursement.  The employer was not a signatory to the stipulation.

 

The employee filed a medical request on May 19, 2004, seeking approval of a proposed MRI scan and payment of outstanding medical bills.  No response was filed by the Fund.  An administrative conference under Minn. Stat. ' 176.106 was held on July 22, 2004, and in a decision and order issued August 9, 2004, the Fund was ordered to pay for the treatment in dispute.  The compensation judge=s decision noted that the Fund=s position at the conference was that the request for treatment was not related to the 1987 work injury.

 

On August 27, 2004, the Fund filed its request for formal hearing and on September 2, 2004, the Office of Administrative Hearings issued a hearing notice, advising the parties that the matter would be heard on November 16, 2004.  On November 1, 2004, the Fund filed a Petition for Joinder, seeking to add Siwek Lumber and its insurer as parties to the pending action and also filed a Petition for Contribution in which it claimed that Siwek Lumber and its insurer were responsible for the benefits which had been paid by the Fund.  A compensation judge signed an order granting joinder, which was served and filed November 18, 2004.

 

The hearing was held before Compensation Judge Nancy Olson on November 16, 2004.  The parties discussed the issues before going on the record and, on the record, the compensation judge advised the parties that she was not going to consider the petition for contribution and that the issue for the hearing was whether the medical treatment being claimed was due to the employee=s 1987 work injury.  The Fund=s position was identified by the compensation judge as being that the claimed bills were due to a preexisting condition.  The Fund did not object to the compensation judge=s identification of the issue or of its position.  In her findings and order,  issued December 16, 2004, the compensation judge determined that the medical expenses were related to the 1987 work injury and ordered the Fund to pay the expenses pursuant to the terms of the 1988 Stipulation.  The Fund has appealed.

 

DECISION

 

On appeal, the Fund contends that the compensation judge erred in ordering payment of medical expenses before a final determination of liability was made, arguing that the compensation judge should have added the parties named in its petition for joinder and that the compensation judge should also have considered the question of primary liability.^[1]  We disagree.

 

The hearing in this matter was the result of a request for formal hearing filed under Minn. Stat. ' 176.106, subd. 7.  That section requires that the hearing must take place within 60 days from the date the Office of Administrative Hearings receives the file. This court has held previously that it was not error for a compensation judge to refuse to expand the issues in an expedited hearing set under this provision.  Clemmer v. National Steel Pellet Co., slip op. (W.C.C.A. Dec. 13, 2004).

 

As identified by the decision and order of August 9, 2004, the issue at the administrative conference was whether the treatment at issue was causally related to the work injury of August 13, 1987.  It was not error for the compensation judge to refuse to expand the issues at hearing to include the Fund=s contribution claim and liability defense.^[2]

 

The compensation judge limited her determination to a finding that the requested medical treatment was related to the August 1987 work injury.  Pursuant to the stipulation of the parties, the Fund was responsible for payment of those expenses.  The compensation judge=s decision does not prejudice the ability of the Fund to pursue its contribution claims.

 

The decision of the compensation judge is affirmed.