Smith v. North Dakota Workers Compensation Bureau

I respectfully dissent.

The majority distinguishes Levey v. N.D. Workers Compensation Bureau, 425 N.W.2d 376 (N.D.1988), which upheld a Bureau decision to award vocational rehabilitation benefits for two years rather than four years because the “extent of pre-inju-ry earning capacity to which a claimant is entitled to be restored was not raised by Levey in his brief or in the petition for rehearing” and was not addressed in that opinion. The issue may not have been presented in precisely the manner conceptualized by the majority opinion but Levey did observe that the Bureau normally awards…