PATRICIA SMEBY, Employee/Appellant,
v.
NORTHWEST MEDICAL CTR., SELF-INSURED/BERKLEY ADM'RS, Employer,
and
MN DEP'T OF LABOR & INDUS./VRU, Intervenor.
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals
February 9, 1999
HEADNOTES
APPEALS
- INTERLOCUTORY ORDER; PRACTICE & PROCEDURE -
DISMISSAL. Where the compensation judge dismissed the
employee's claim petition without prejudice for lack of
medical support, failure to state a compensable claim, and
claiming only future medical benefits, the judge's order
of dismissal did not affect the merits of the case, was not
an appealable order, and was not reviewable by the WCCA, and
the employee's appeal from that order was dismissed as
being at best premature.
Appeal
dismissed.
Determined by Pederson, J., Hefte, J., and Wilson, J.
Compensation Judge: James E. O'Gorman.
OPINION
WILLIAM R. PEDERSON, Judge
The
employee appeals from a compensation judge's Order
Dismissing Claim Petition served and filed on July 9,
1998. We dismiss the appeal.
BACKGROUND
On May
11, 1998, the employee filed a Claim Petition, alleging or
reserving claim to entitlement to various benefits, including
wage replacement benefits commencing January 1, 1999,
consequent to work-related injuries on March 30, 1992, in the
nature of "Back, depression from pain, limitations of
injury, carpal tunnel syndrome, upper extremity and lower
extremity."1 On May 29, 1998, the self-insured
employer filed an Answer to that petition, which included a
motion for dismissal on grounds that the employee had failed
to state a compensable claim. On July 9, 1998, the
Motion for Dismissal came on for hearing before Compensation
Judge James E. O'Gorman. On that same date, the
compensation judge issued an Order Dismissing Claim Petition,
specifying that the dismissal was without prejudice. The
employee appeals.
DECISION
Minn.
R. 1415.1700, subp. 2 (1998), provides as
follows: "The judge may, on the judge's own
motion or upon motion of a party...
