Pillsbury

Involved here are consolidated cases, four in number, arising under the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C.A. § 901 et seq. In each case the Deputy Commissioner found a partial disability growing out of injury suffered in the course of employment. In one instance (the Shallat case) the award was for permanent and in the others for temporary disability. On appropriate proceedings before the district court the awards were annulled on the ground that the claims were barred because not filed within one year after the injury as provided in § 13(a) of the Act, 92 F.Supp. 898 . The Deputy Commissioner appeals.

In each case the claimant suffered a specific injury from accident on a particular date. No latent injury or occupational disease is involved. There were no voluntary payments of compensation. The claims were filed on dates ranging from 18 to 23 months after the injury. Omitting for the moment what we regard as irrelevant or argumentative matters, the Deputy Commissioner’s findings were these:

No. 12,644. Claimant Johnson on May 12, 1947, struck his head on a crossbeam of a vessel while working as a welder, “sustaining extensive strain of the muscles of…