Claude Bruton v. Smithfield Foods, Inc. and Esis, Inc., Relators, and Mayo Clinic, Intervenor.

Summary

The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals, holding that Smithfield Foods could not offset Claude Bruton’s temporary total disability workers’ compensation benefits by the short‑term disability benefits it had already paid because the statutes provide no such offset authority. The Court applied a de novo standard of review and declined to read into the statute a “legislative hole” that would allow the offset.