The SD Supreme Court handed down one decision this morning, holding inter alia:
- SD is authorized to
entertain work comp claim for accident occurring in Wyoming
notwithstanding previous claim in Wyoming
Summary
follows:
ANDERSON
v. TRI STATE CONSTRUCTION, 2021 S.D. 50:
This is an attempt to file a work comp claim in South Dakota in
connection with an injury that occurred in Wyoming. Employer is a corporation formed and
headquartered in SD. After initially
filing a claim in Wyoming and receiving benefits there, employee realized that
SD’s law were more favorable than Wyoming’s law. (Employee “discovered that Wyoming
law limited her eligibility to collect total disability benefits to 80 months,
whereas in South Dakota, she could be eligible to receive permanent total
disability benefits.”) The DOL dismissed the claim for lack of
jurisdiction and the Circuit Court affirmed.
The SD Supreme Court reversed and remanded, stating:
[W]e hold that South Dakota
has a substantial connection to Anderson and Tri State’s employment
relationship sufficient to provide the
Department with authority to adjudicate Anderson’s claim. Accordingly, Anderson’s claim for workers’
compensation benefits does not offend principles of due process. Martin,
2011 S.D. 57, ¶ 9, 804 N.W.2d at 67.
This
decision is unanimous (5-0) with opinion authored by Justice Kern.
This
decision may be accessed at
http://ujs.sd.gov/Supreme_Court/opinions.aspx .
