Section 8-43-103(2) creates a two-year statute of limitations to file a claim for compensation. However, the statute also extends the statute of limitations to three years where it is established that a \u201creasonable excuse exists for the failure to file\u201d a claim for compensation. An attorney\u2019s negligence in filing the claim for compensation timely may constitute a \u201creasonable excuse\u201d for extending the statute of limitations to three years. Aceves v. Genesis Fixtures\/Leggett & Platt, Inc<\/em>., W. C. No. 4-844-271-02 (November 14, 2014).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Aceves<\/em>, the claimant timely reported his injury on December 10, 2010, and the respondents filed an Employers\u2019 First Report of Injury and two Notices of Contest. Claimant retained counsel on December 4, 2012 (two weeks before the expiration of the two-year statute of limitations), but claimant\u2019s attorney did not file a claim for compensation (in the form of an Application for Hearing) until May 2013. The respondents sought to dismiss the claim for failure to file within the two-year statute of limitations. The Administrative Law Judge found that the claimant\u2019s attorney\u2019s \u201cnegligence\u201d in not filing a claim for compensation until May 2013 constituted a reasonable excuse for the failure to file the claim for compensation within two years, thus extending the statute of limitations to three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The respondents appealed, arguing that there was \u201cno evidence\u201d at hearing as to the reason the claimant\u2019s attorney failed to file a claim for compensation timely. The ICAO, however, essentially found that the mere fact that the attorney did not file the claim within two years of the date of injury was \u201csubstantial evidence\u201d to support the Administrative Law Judge\u2019s finding of a reasonable excuse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Section 8-43-103(2) creates a two-year statute of limitations to file a claim for compensation. However, the statute also extends the statute of limitations to three years where it is established that a \u201creasonable excuse exists for the failure to file\u201d a claim for compensation. An attorney\u2019s negligence in filing the claim for compensation timely may… Continue reading Claimant\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Negligence May Be a Reasonable Excuse for Failure to File a Claim Within the Two-Year Statute of Limitations<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epicdevsite.info\/2021-picardilawfirm2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epicdevsite.info\/2021-picardilawfirm2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epicdevsite.info\/2021-picardilawfirm2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epicdevsite.info\/2021-picardilawfirm2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epicdevsite.info\/2021-picardilawfirm2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/epicdevsite.info\/2021-picardilawfirm2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313,"href":"https:\/\/epicdevsite.info\/2021-picardilawfirm2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions\/313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epicdevsite.info\/2021-picardilawfirm2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epicdevsite.info\/2021-picardilawfirm2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epicdevsite.info\/2021-picardilawfirm2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}