JURISDICTION – SUBJECT MATTER. The WCCA correctly concluded that it lacks jurisdiction to decide whether federal law preempts Minnesota law that requires an employer to furnish medical treatment when the treatment for which reimbursement is sought is medical cannabis.
MEDICAL TREATMENT & EXPENSE. The prohibition in the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. §§ 801–971, on the possession of cannabis preempts an order made under Minnesota’s workers’ compensation law, Minn. Stat. § 176.135, subd. 1 (2020), that requires an employer to reimburse an injured employee for the cost of medical cannabis used to treat a work-related injury.
Attorneys: Danielle T. Bird, Bird, Stevens & Borgen, P.C., Bloomington, Minnesota, for respondent, Michael D. Warhol. Luke Smith, Brown & Carlson, P.A., Minneapolis, Minnesota, for relators.
Considered and decided by the court without oral argument.
Reversed in part, Affirmed in part.
HUDSON, Justice
Based upon all the files, records, and proceedings herein,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
1. The decision of the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals filed on April 28, 2021, is reversed in part. That portion of the decision that affirms the award of benefits for medical marijuana, addressed at pages 8–9 of the court’s decision, is reversed based on this court’s decision in Musta v. Mendota Heights Dental Ctr., 965 N.W.2d 312 (Minn. 2021) (holding that the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. §§ 801–971, preempts requirements under Minnesota’s Workers’ Compensation Act that obligate an employer to reimburse an injured employee for medical treatment when that treatment is an award for medical cannabis).
2. The decision of the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals filed on April 28, 2021, is affirmed in part without opinion on the remaining issues addressed in that decision. See Hoff v. Kempton, 317 N.W.2d 361, 366 (Minn. 1982) (“Summary affirmances have no precedential value because they do not commit the court to any particular point of view. They do no more than establish the law of the case.”).
3. Respondent Michael D. Warhol is awarded $3,500 in attorney fees.
WCCA Decision date, April 28, 2021