Gange Lumber Co. v. Rowley, 326 U.S. 295 (1945)

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Gange Lumber Co. v. Rowley

No. 53

Argued October 16, 17, 1945
Decided November 13, 1945
326 U.S. 295

APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF WASHINGTON

Syllabus

Prior to the 1941 amendment of the Washington Industrial Insurance Act, there was a 3-year limitation on the filing by a workman of a claim for readjustment of compensation on account of aggravation of injury. The 1941 amendment authorized the filing of such a claim within five years from its effective date. There was no limitation, however, before or after the amendment, on the reopening of a claim and the awarding of additional compensation by the Department on its own motion. A workman, against whom the 3-year limitation of the preexisting law had run, filed pursuant to the 1941 amendment a claim for readjustment, and was awarded additional compensation.

Held: that, upon the record in this case, the appellant employer -- having shown neither a probability that its future premium rate would be increased by allowance of the additional award nor that, under the preexisting law, the liability for an additional award had been extinguished -- failed to make a showing of such substantial injury, actual or impending, to any legally protected interest as would entitle it to question the validity of the statute under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp. 297, 307.

22 Wash.2d 250, 155 P.2d 802, appeal dismissed.

APPEAL from a judgment which sustained the constitutionality of a state statute as applied to the appellant.