LOUIS MERRILL, Employee/Appellant,
v.
MILLE LACS BAND FAMILY SERVS., and BERKLEY RISK ADMIN. CO., LLC, Employer-Insurer/ Respondents, and SPECIAL COMP. FUND.
No. WC20-6347
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals
October 15, 2020
JURISDICTION
- SUBJECT MATTER. The compensation judge correctly concluded
that the employer, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, was immune
from liability for Minnesota workers’ compensation
benefits pursuant to Tibbetts v. Leech Lake Reservation
Bus. Comm., 397 N.W.2d 883 (Minn. 1986).
JURISDICTION
- SUBJECT MATTER. The doctrine of preemption does not defeat
an Indian tribe’s sovereign immunity against a
Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Act claim, so long as
the tribe has not waived that immunity for claims in
workers’ compensation.
Patricia J. Milun, Chief Judge, David A. Stofferahn, Judge,
Sean M. Quinn, Judge
Compensation Judge: Kathleen Behounek
Joshua
E. Borken, Law Office of Joshua Borken, St. Paul, Minnesota,
for the Appellant.
Barbara E. Cole, Joseph F. Halloran, The Jacobson Group, St.
Paul, Minnesota, for the Respondents.
Affirmed.
OPINION
PATRICIA J. MILUN, Chief Judge.
The
employee appeals from a compensation judge’s order
dismissing his claim petition on the basis that jurisdiction
over a federally recognized Indian tribe is lacking for
purposes of the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Act. We
affirm.
BACKGROUND
The
employee, Louis Merrill, is an enrolled member of the Mille
Lacs Band of Ojibwe (the Mille Lacs Band). The Mille Lacs
Band is a federally recognized sovereign Indian tribe. On
February 19, 2019, the employee was working for the Mille
Lacs Band Family Services (a department of the Mille Lacs
Band) when he slipped on ice on a mat in the entryway of the
work premises. The employee experienced low back and neck
pain, which he attributed to twisting while preventing
himself from falling. Conservative treatment for the
employee’s pain symptoms was undertaken, primarily
consisting of physical therapy. The employee filed a claim in
the workers’ compensation system of the Mille Lacs
Band. The employer admitted the injury and paid benefits,
including temporary total disability (TTD) benefits.
On
September 4, 2019, Stephen Barron, M.D., issued an
independent...
