District II
March 6, 2013
To:
Hon. Patrick L. Willis
Circuit Court Judge
Manitowoc County Courthouse
1010 S. 8th Street
Manitowoc, WI 54220-5380
Lynn Zigmunt
Clerk of Circuit Court
Manitowoc County Courthouse
1010 S. 8th Street
Manitowoc, WI 54220-5380
Travis K. Glandt
Kummer, Lambert, Fox & Glandt, LLP
P.O. Box 1180
Manitowoc, WI 54221-1180
Carrie May Poniewaz
Daniel L. Zitzer
Otjen, Van Ert & Weir SC
700 N. Water St., Ste. 800
Milwaukee, WI 53202
David C. Rice
Asst. Attorney General
P.O. Box 7857
Madison, WI 53707-7857
You are hereby notified that the Court has entered the following opinion and order:
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Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry v. LIRC (L.C. # 2011CV734) |
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Before Brown, C.J., Neubauer, P.J., and Reilly, J.
Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry and Discover Property & Casualty Insurance c/o Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc. (collectively, “the plaintiffs-appellants”) appeal from a circuit court order affirming a decision of the Labor and Industry Review Commission (LIRC) awarding worker’s compensation benefits to Jeffrey Burt for an occupational disease injury. Based upon our review of the briefs and record, we conclude at conference that this case is appropriate for summary disposition. Wis. Stat. Rule 809.21 (2011-12).[1] We affirm the order of the circuit court and adopt it as our decision. See Wis. Ct. App. IOP VI(5)(a) (Nov. 30, 2009) (court of appeals may adopt circuit court opinion).
On appeal, we review LIRC’s decision and not the decision of the circuit court. Pick ‘n Save Roundy’s v. LIRC, 2010 WI App 130, ¶8, 329 Wis. 2d 674, 791 N.W.2d 216. LIRC’s finding regarding whether an employee has sustained a disabling occupational disease is conclusive if supported by credible and substantial evidence in the record. See General Cas. Co. of Wisconsin v. LIRC, 165 Wis. 2d 174, 178, 477 N.W.2d 322 (Ct. App. 1991).
Here, the plaintiffs-appellants’
contentions regarding the decision of LIRC were carefully and thoroughly
addressed by the circuit court.[2] Accordingly, we hereby adopt and incorporate
as our decision the circuit court order entered May 2, 2012.[3]
Upon the foregoing reasons,
IT IS ORDERED that the order of the circuit court is summarily affirmed, pursuant to Wis. Stat. Rule 809.21.
Diane M. Fremgen
Clerk of Court of Appeals
[1] All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2011-12 version.
[2] One of those contentions is that we should adopt a higher standard for the analysis of Burt’s occupational disease injury claim than we utilized in Wisconsin Ins. Sec. Fund v. LIRC, 2005 WI App 242, 288 Wis. 2d 206, 707 N.W.2d 293. We must decline this invitation, as we are bound by our prior decisions and cannot overrule, modify, or withdraw language from them. See Cook v. Cook, 208 Wis. 2d 166, 190, 560 N.W.2d 246 (Ct. App. 1997).
[3] We note that a typographical error appears on page 18 of the circuit court decision, where “November 27, 2006” should read “October 31, 2008”.
