A young Duluth area woman injured while on the job in Wisconsin has had her award of compensation by the workers compensation trial judge upheld by the Minnesota Workers Compensation Court of Appeals.  Hired in Duluth by a national company, the woman sustained a low back injury while on the job in Superior, Wisconsin, one of the sites her duties required her to work.  The employer denied the claim, initially because it contended her injuries were aggravated by a fall away from work.

She then retained Jim Balmer to assert her claim in the courts.  The employer discarded the aggravation defense it had first asserted, now claiming the injury belonged in the Wisconsin work injury court system and sought dismissal of the claim in the Minnesota Courts.

After a trial, the Minnesota Workers Compensation trial judge awarded the injured worker wage loss benefits and medical expense payments, ruling the Minnesota Workers Compensation system had jurisdiction because the young woman had been in Wisconsin only temporarily, that her employment was in Minnesota.  The employer appealed to the Workers Compensation Court of Appeals, where the trial judge’s decision in favor of allowing the young woman’s claim was upheld.

Workers Compensation claims, whether brought in Minnesota or Wisconsin, are subject to complicated and technical defenses asserted by employers and their insurers as a way to avoid having to pay wage loss and increasingly large medical expense billings caused by work injuries.  More than ever, injured workers need to seek competent legal advice from attorneys specializing in the field, like the lawyers at this law firm.