CHAPTER 101
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 19, DELAWARE CODE, RELATING TO WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:
Section 1. §' 2342; Title 19, Delaware Code, is amended by striking out and repealing all of said section and by substituting in lieu thereof a new § 2342 to read as follows:
§ 2342. Notice of occupational disease; time of; failure to give
Unless the employer during the continuance of the employment has actual knowledge that the employee has contracted a compensable occupational disease, or unless the employee or someone in his behalf, or some of his dependents, or someone on their behalf, gives the employer written notice or claim that the employee has contracted one of the compensable occupational diseases, which notice to be effective shall be given within a period of six months after the date on which the employee first acquired such knowledge that the disability was or could have been caused or had resulted from his employment, no compensation shall be payable on account of the death or disability by occupational disease of such employee.
Section 2. § 2348, Title 19, Delaware Code, is amended by striking out and repealing all of subsection (a) only thereof and substituting in lieu thereof a new subsection (a) to read as follows:
§ 2348. Hearings of Board; notice of awards, evidence
(a) In all hearings before the Board, it shall make such inquiries and investigations as it deems necessary. Unless otherwise stipulated by counsel and approved by the Board, the hearings of the Board shall be held at some reasonable location in the city or county where the injury occurred or, if the accident occurred out of state, in any county designated by the Board as convenient for the parties, and each award of the Board shall be in writing and shall be filed among its records, and a copy thereof shall either be served personally, or sent by registered mail to, each of the parties in interest within one week after making such award.
Section 3. § 2349, Title 19, Delaware Code is amended to read as follows:
§ 2349. Finality of awards; appeals; limitation period
An award of the Board in the absence of fraud shall be final and conclusive between the parties, except as provided in section 2347 of this title, unless within twenty days after a copy thereof has been sent to the parties, either party appeals to the Superior Court for the county in which the injury occurred, or if the injury occurred out of the State, to the Superior Court in and for the county in which the hearing was had.
Section 4. § 2350, Title 19, Delaware Code, is amended by adding thereto a new subsection (f) to read as follows:
(f) The Superior Court may in its discretion allow a reasonable attorney fee to claimant's attorney for his services on an appeal from the Industrial Accident Board to the Superior Court and from the Superior Court to the Supreme Court where the claimant has prevailed in his hearing before the Industrial Accident Board and is affirmed on appeal, which fee shall be taxed in the costs and become part of the final judgment in the cause and may be recovered against the employer or employer's insurance carrier.
Approved June 25, 1959.