Middleton Ex Rel. Middleton v. Northwest Airlines

I respectfully dissent because, in reaching the question of the compensability of suicide, the majority provides a solution for a legal issue not properly before our court. The Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals essentially placed the cart before the horse by ruling that “employerfs] and insurerfs] do not have primary liability for [an] employee’s major depressive disorder and suicide” before addressing the factual issue of whether James Middelton’s suicide stemmed from a work-related injury. The majority, in its zeal to correct the WCCA’s legal conclusion, exacerbates the WCCA’s error by…