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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 913. Filing of claims
(a) Time to file
Except as otherwise provided in this section, the right to
compensation for disability or death under this chapter shall be
barred unless a claim therefore is filed within one year after the
injury or death. If payment of compensation has been made without
an award on account of such injury or death, a claim may be filed
within one year after the date of the last payment. Such claim
shall be filed with the deputy commissioner in the compensation
district in which such injury or death occurred. The time for
filing a claim shall not begin to run until the employee or
beneficiary is aware, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence
should have been aware, of the relationship between the injury or
death and the employment.
(b) Failure to file
(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this
section failure to file a claim within the period prescribed in
such subsection shall not be a bar to such right unless objection
to such failure is made at the first hearing of such claim in which
all parties in interest are given reasonable notice and opportunity
to be heard.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this
section, a claim for compensation for death or disability due to an
occupational disease which does not immediately result in such
death or disability shall be timely if filed within two years after
the employee or claimant becomes aware, or in the exercise of
reasonable diligence or by reason of medical advice should have
been aware, of the relationship between the employment, the
disease, and the death or disability, or within one year of the
date of the last payment of compensation, whichever is later.
(c) Effect on incompetents and minors
If a person who is entitled to compensation under this chapter is
mentally incompetent or a minor, the provisions of subsection (a)
of this section shall not be applicable so long as such person has
no guardian or other authorized representative, but shall be
applicable in the case of a person who is mentally incompetent or a
minor from the date of appointment of such guardian or other
representative, or in the case of a minor, if no guardian is
appointed before he becomes of age, from the date he becomes of
age.
(d) Tolling provision
Where recovery is denied to any person, in a suit brought at law
or in admiralty to recover damages in respect of injury or death,
on the ground that such person was an employee and that the
defendant was an employer within the meaning of this chapter and
that such employer had secured compensation to such employee under
this chapter, the limitation of time prescribed in subsection (a)
of this section shall begin to run only from the date of
termination of such suit.
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