JOHN DEVOS, Employee/Relator, v. RHINO CONTRACTING, INC./SELF-INSURED, Employer/Respondent, and RIVERVIEW HEALTH, BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD MINN./BLUE PLUS, and ALTRU HEALTH SYS., Intervenors, and SPECIAL COMP. FUND.

SUPREME COURT - FEBRUARY 7, 2020
No. A19-1058 
WCCA No. WC18-6240

Attorneys: Mark L. Rodgers, Kristen M. Rodgers, James H. Perkett, Rodgers Law Office, P.L.L.C., Bemidji, Minnesota, for relator. Keith Ellison, Attorneys General, Kelly S. Kemp, Rory H. Foley, Assistant Attorneys General, Saint Paul, Minnesota, for respondent Special Compensation Fund.

Affirmed without opinion.

ORDER

LILLEHAUG, Justice

This case is before us on the appeal of relator John Devos from a decision of the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals (WCCA), which affirmed the dismissal of his claim petition. The WCCA concluded that relator's exclusive remedy for workers' compensation benefits is under the workers' compensation system in North Dakota. Relator raises statutory issues and a constitutional issue not decided below: whether the limitation of Minnesota workers' compensation benefits in Minn. Stat. § 176.041, subd. 5b (2018), violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Minnesota Constitution, Article I, Section 2.

Turning first to the constitutional issue, on such a claim we use a form of rational-basis review. See Schuette v. City of Hutchinson, 843 N.W.2d 233, 239 (Minn. 2014); Gluba ex rel. Gluba v. Bitzan & Ohren Masonry, 735 N.W.2d 713, 721 (Minn. 2007). We presume that a workers' compensation statute is constitutional, and relator "bears the burden of proof on his constitutional claim." Gluba, 735 N.W.2d at 719, 726. After carefully considering the arguments of the parties, we conclude that relator has not carried his burden to demonstrate that the statute is unconstitutional.

Turning next to the statutory issues, relator contends that he was not "an employee hired in North Dakota" and that his injury did not arise out of "temporary work in Minnesota" within the meaning of Minn. Stat. § 176.041, subd. 5b. After carefully considering the arguments of the parties, we affirm the decision of the WCCA on the statutory issues.

Based upon all the files, records and proceedings herein,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the decision of the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals filed June 12, 2019, be, and the same is, affirmed without opinion. See Hoff v. Kempton, 317 N.W.2d 361,366 (Minn. 1982) (stating that summary dispositions have no precedential value because they do not commit the court to any particular point of view, doing no more than establishing the law of the case).

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that all other claims and requests for relief are denied.