ANGELA HAWLEY, Employee/Respondent, v. CITY OF BLAINE and LEAGUE OF MINN. CITIES, Employer-Insurer/Relators.

SUPREME COURT – JANUARY 22, 2020
No. A19-1373
WCCA No. WC19-6274

Attorneys:  Ronald F. Meuser, Jr., Lindsey M. Rowland, Meuser Law Office, P.A., Eden Prairie, Minnesota, for respondent.  Thomas L. Cummings, Joseph S. Koe, Jardine, Logan & O’Brien, P.L.L.P., Lake Elmo, Minnesota, for relators.

Dismissed.

ORDER

CHUTICH, Justice

In this appeal from the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals, respondent Angela Hawley moved to dismiss, asserting that the employer’s appeal became moot after she had filed a claim petition.  That filing, she contends, conferred the subject-matter jurisdiction that the compensation judge lacked when the employer brought the petition to compel her attendance at an independent medical examination.

Mootness is a "flexible discretionary doctrine." Dean v. City of Winona, 868 N.W.2d 1, 4 (Minn. 2015).  Given that Hawley has filed a claim petition and has since attended an independent medical examination-the relief sought by relators City of Blaine and League of Minnesota Cities-we decline to exercise our discretion here because a "decision on the merits is no longer necessary."  Id. at 5 (citation omitted).

Based upon all the files, records, and proceedings herein,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

  1.  Respondent's motion to dismiss is granted.  The writ of certiorari is discharged and the appeal is dismissed.
  2.  This case is remanded to the compensation judge for such further proceedings as necessary.