Supreme Court Denies Further Review in Case Involving English Language Skills and Motivation
On February 22, 2013, the Supreme Court denied further review in Merivic v. Gutierrez , No. 12-0240, a case that had earlier been heard by the Iowa Court of Appeals. See Merivic v. Gutierrez , No. 12-0240 (Iowa App. Nov. 15, 2012). In Merivic , the court of appeals concluded that the decision of the commissioner in Lovic v. Construction Products, Inc., No. 5015390 (App. Dec. 27, 2007), was appropriate. The Lovic decision had concluded that a lack of English language skills was a factor to be determined in considering the extent of industrial disability, and also concluded that the failure of a claimant to learn English was not to be considered in determining the client's motivation to work. In Merivic , the employer had directly attacked Lovic as being wrongly decided, and urged the court to find that Lovic was not controlling. The decision of the court of appeals found that the employer's position was an impermissible ...