# The Waldinger Corporation, Emcasco Insurance Company, and Second Injury Fund of Iowa v. Michael B. Mettler

> Supreme Court of Iowa · July 6, 2012 · 817 N.W.2d 1

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9880365

## Case

- **Full name:** The WALDINGER CORPORATION, Emcasco Insurance Company, and Second Injury Fund of Iowa, Appellants, v. Michael B. METTLER, Appellee
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Iowa
- **Decided:** July 6, 2012
- **Citations:** 817 N.W.2d 1; 2012 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 77; 2012 WL 2603830
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Waterman
- **Judges:** Hecht, Waterman, Mansfield
- **Cited by:** 27 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9880365

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that the commissioner was not clearly vested with interpretive authority for section 85.34(1)
- holding that the commissioner was not vested with interpretive authority for section 85.34(1)

## Opinion text

WATERMAN, Justice
(concurring specially).
I respectfully specially concur. I agree with the majority’s outcome because it is consistent with the workers’ compensation commissioner’s interpretation of Iowa Code section 85.34(1) (2011). My adherence to stare decisis precludes me from joining the full opinion. This decision turns on the interpretation of a term of art — “healing period” — that is unique to the workers’ compensation law administered by the commissioner. The majority interprets that language itself without acknowledging the agency’s interpretive authority or the deference owed to its interpretation of that specialized term within its expertise. See Renda v. Iowa Civil Rights Comm’n, 784 N.W.2d 8, 11-12 (Iowa 2010). I would apply Renda and defer to the agency’s interpretation of the healing-period provision to reach the same result.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9880365. Public record. Not legal advice.