Neve v. Austin Daily Herald

I concur as to the result because the record does not reasonably support the Commissioner’s finding of a master-servant relationship. However, I dissent from the application of de novo review to the inferences that may be drawn from predicate facts.

Although we are free to review de novo the application of law to undisputed facts, the existence of an employment relationship constitutes the “ultimate fact issue,” which cannot be decided as a matter of law simply because the predicate facts are uncontested. See Darvell v. Paul A. Laurence Co., 239 Minn. 55, 62, 57 N.W.2d 831, 835 (1953) (stating…