Court Opinion

ID: 9590773
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:58:17.133304+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:43:04.880212
License: Public Domain

McGRAW, Justice,
dissenting.
I believe that W.Va.Code §§ 23-5-1, 23-5-3 and 23-5-4 (1988 Cum.Supp.) are unconstitutional insofar as they make the time limitations for filing objections, protests and appeals to orders of the Commissioner and the Appeal Board jurisdictional. The purpose of the Workers’ Compensation Act was to remove claims by employees against employers for negligently-caused industrial injuries from the rigid and often unwieldy procedures of courts of law and to provide an informal administrative system for prompt and fair resolution of such claims. See Meadows v. Lewis, 172 W.Va. 457, 307 S.E.2d 625 (1983); Mandolidis v. Elkins Industries, Inc., 161 W.Va. 695, 246 S.E.2d 907 (1978); McVey v. Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co., 103 W.Va. 519, 138 S.E. 97 (1927); Poccardi v. Ott, 82 W.Va. 497, 96 S.E. 790 (1918). To require claimants within that system to comply strictly with such time limitations not only flies in the face of express provisions to the contrary; * it deprives such claimants of any remedy for the negligent acts of their employers without due process of law. Accordingly, I would hold that Bailey v. State Workmen’s Compensation Commissioner, 170 W.Va. 771, 296 S.E.2d 901 (1982) remains in force and effect.

 For example, the stated policy of the Workers’ Compensation Act is “to prohibit the denial of just claims of injured or deceased workmen or their dependents on technicalities” W.Va.Code § 23-5-3a (1985 Replacement Vol.). The statute expressly relaxes common-law and statutory rules of evidence and procedure applicable in civil actions and requires each case to be investigated "in such maneuvers ... is best calculated to ascertain the substantial rights of the parties and to carry out the provisions of this chapter.” W.Va.Code § 23-1-15 (1988 Replacement Vol.). Moreover, we have repeatedly recognized that workers' compensation statutes are to be construed liberally in favor of the claimant to effect the beneficent purposes of the Act. See Hughes v. State Workmen’s Compensation Commissioner, 156 W.Va. 146, 191 S.E.2d 606 (1972); Johnson v. State Workmen’s Compensation Commissioner, 155 W.Va. 624, 186 S.E.2d 771 (1972); Poccardi v. Ott, supra.