BRANDON BEAGER, Employee/Petitioner,
v.
N. VALLEY, INC., and TRAVELERS INS. CO., Employer-Insurer/Respondent,
and
ST. PAUL RADIOLOGY, FAIRVTEW HEALTH SERVS. and UNION CONSTR. WORKERS' COMP. PROGRAM (UCWCP), Interveners.
No. WC19-6262
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals
May 15, 2019
ATTORNEY
FEES. The employee’s attorney is entitled to reasonable
attorney fees where the employer and insurer did not agree to
entry of an order vacating an earlier award on stipulation
until after employee’s attorney performed significant
work on the employee’s behalf. Under the facts
presented, the presumptive attorney fee award is the
appropriate amount to award as fees, rather than the hourly
fee total requested.
Joshua
E. Borken, St. Paul, Minnesota, for the Petitioner.
Katherine S. VanHavermaet, Law Offices of Kelly R. Rodieck
& Assoc, St. Paul, Minnesota, for the Respondent.
Determined by: Sean M. Quinn, Judge, Patricia J. Mlun, Chief
Judge, Gary M. Hall, Judge.
Attorney
fees awarded.
OPINION
SEAN
M. QUINN, Judge.
The
employee successfully petitioned to vacate a previous award
on stipulation. The attorney for the employee now seeks fees
for representing the employee in the petition to vacate.
BACKGROUND
The
employee, Brandon Beager, suffered a work injury with the
employer, North Valley, Inc., on June 20, 2013. At a
mediation, the employee was not represented by counsel, and
settled his case on a full, final and complete basis. An
award on stipulation was served and filed on November 7,
2014. Subsequently, the employee hired attorney Joshua Borken
seeking to vacate that award.
On
behalf of the employee, Mr. Borken contacted the employer and
insurer and attempted to negotiate an agreement to vacate the
award on stipulation. This was not successful. Mr. Borken
then went about the process of gathering additional medical
evidence, including a medical report, and drafting a petition
to vacate, which was filed with this court. Shortly, after
the petition to vacate...
