Woessner v. Labor Max Staffing

Leben, J.:

*780Sometimes there's a mismatch between what's at stake in a case before us and how interesting the legal issue involved is likely to be to the lay reader. This case is a prime example.

The dispute is an important one. Gary Woessner lost his life *781after an accident at work. His widow, Carmen, seeks death benefits under the Kansas Workers Compensation Act.

But the Kansas Legislature has provided that the employer isn't liable to pay benefits under that Act if an employee was impaired by drugs at the time of a work accident and that impairment contributed to the accident. Here, there's a…