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The Minnesota Supreme Court issued its ruling in Johnson v. Concrete Treatments, Inc. on May 29, 2024. The Court overruled the WCCA’s prior ruling that where potential intervenors’ interests had been extinguished and the employee’s attorney did not unequivocally establish representation of parties which had not intervened in the matter, the attorney could not make direct claims for their interests. Writing for a unanimous Court (minus Justice Hennesy, who had not yet joined the Court while this matter was being considered), Justice Procaccini held that “even if a medical provider itself is barred from bringing a claim for medical expenses because it sought to intervene after the statutory deadline, the employee’s right to assert a direct claim for those medical expenses endures.”
This essentially does away with the holding of Duehn v. Connell Car Care, Inc. (WCCA 2017), where the WCCA concluded that the employee could not assert a claim for medical expenses owed to that medical provider because the employee’s attorney did not establish dual representation of the employee and the untimely intervenor at the hearing.
Here is the decision in full:
https://mn.gov/workcomp-stat/sup/Johnson%20Daniel%20-%20sup%20-%2024.html
(Summary prepared by Attorney Lucas Cragg of Heacox Hartman)