Burrows v. North Dakota Workers' Compensation Bureau

SANDSTROM, Justice.

James Burrows, a 31-year law enforcement officer and a 40-year smoker, died of lung cancer. The North Dakota Workers Compensation Bureau denied death benefits because the lung cancer was caused by smoking and not law enforcement work.

The district court reversed the bureau, holding the bureau had to prove Burrows had lung cancer before he entered law enforcement. We reverse the district court decision and hold: (1) the bureau’s medical evidence was sufficient to overcome the statutory presumption that Burrows’ cancer was occupational, and (2) the bureau was not required to…