James v. Arlington County Board of Supervisors

The central issue in this workers’ compensation case is whether the Industrial Commission (Commission) is empowered to make a threshold determination of its jurisdiction without having to resort to an adversarial hearing. Here, the Commission, acting solely upon review of the papers filed in the case, rejected a claim on the ground that it had not been filed within two years of the diagnosis of the alleged occupational disease. Because timely filing is jurisdictional, the Commission ruled that it had no jurisdiction to consider the claim. Consequently, the Commission dismissed the case and…