(8 CSR 50-2.010 of Workers’ Compensation Regulations provides that the employer must file an answer to the claim for compensation within 30 days from the date of the Division’s transmittal letter of acknowledgment of the claim to the employer or insurer or third-party administrator, unless otherwise extended by the Division.)
In Rose v Newlyweds Foods, Inj. No. 98-162719 (LIRC, 2002), the 1993 change in the regulations under which the Division operates, 8 CSR 50-2.010 (13) now 8 CSR 50-2.010(8)(B), extending the time for an employer and insurance company to file an answer from 15 to 30 days is a procedural and not a substantive change. This is because lengthening the time to file an answer does not impair or effect a vested right to a property interest and is “part of the machinery” used to affect the suit. Stark v Missouri State Treasurer, 954 S.W.2d 645 (W.D. 1997) (Mo.App. 1997).
NOTE: From a bread and butter standpoint, in the daily practice of law, this is a LANDMARK CASE holding that where any claims are filed before the effective change of the statute, 8/28/93, the new extended period to file the answer to the claim, doubling the time from 15 to 30 days, is procedural, and therefore retroactive to all pending claims. If one has an old claim, the claim predating 8/28/93, there are now 30 days in which that answer could have been filed, whether in fact it was done within the original 15 day limitation effective at that time.
In Soles v Computer Com, Inc., Inj. No. 00-154554 (LIRC) 2002, following Ward v America Fittings, 974 S.W.2d, 586 (Mo. App. 1998), the ALJ award denying compensation on credibility reversed, the LIRC holding that employer’s failure to file a timely answer to the claim was deemed to be an admission to the accident. Here the employer neither filed an answer nor appearance. Default judgment against employer allowed, employer failing to appear at time of trial.