Court Rejects Constitutional Challenge to Industrial Insurance Act's Procedural Limitations

The Washington Court of Appeals last week rejected an injured worker’s constitutional challenge to the Industrial Insurance Act‘s procedural limitations on litigants appealing adverse decisions from the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals. The court said it was within the Legislature’s authority to abolish the common-law cause of action for negligence and that the resultant statutory scheme did not run afoul of Brandon Afoa’s constitutional rights. Afoa had worked for Evergreen Aviation Ground Logistics Enterprises, a company that contracts with airlines to provide ...