Injuries and aggravations of pre-existing conditions are equally covered under Minnesota workers compensation laws. Everybody has some type of pre-existing condition, the law in Minnesota is favorable with respect to anything that aggravates or activates those pre-existing conditions. A typical example is someone who has a back injury they may have changes on their MRI scan that has caused them no problems over the years, but then they have an injury that is layered on top of that and they don’t recover very well from that injury.

And the law only requires that the aggravation be � and we have to use these legal words every now and then � substantial or significant. And I always tell my clients something more than a minor aggravation or a minor flare up of a condition is usually the case. How do we make that determination and I get that question all the time. They have to obtain a medical opinion from the physician and ultimately the work comp judge if there’s a dispute will resolve that dispute and make the decision.