Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Cline

⁴³ Per Curiam: This Court granted a writ of certiorari in this case to review the decision of the Court of Special Appeals, 13 Md. App. 337 , 283 A. 2d 188 (1971), the petition for the writ contending that that court had misapplied established rules of statutory construction by allowing death benefits to a dependent in a Workmen’s Compensation case in accordance with an amendatory schedule of benefits becoming effective before the death of the injured workman, but after his injury. The appellant contended in the Court of Special Appeals as it contends here that this gives a retroactive effect to an increased schedule of benefits without express legislative direction. The appellant further contended that the Court of Special Appeals ignored two cases decided by this Court alleged to be directly in point, these cases being Dashiell v. Candy Shops, 171 Md. 72, 74 , 188 A. 29 (1936) ; General Electric Co. v. Cannella, 249 Md. 122, 123, 133-34 , 238 A. 2d 891 (1968) ; and misapplied Furley v. Warren-Ehret Co., 195 Md. 339, 348 , 73 A. 2d 497 (1950). After due consideration, we affirm the decision of the Court of Special Appeals and adopt its opinion.

It is there pointed out that, “Under the Workmen’s Compensation Law of Maryland there are two distinct types of claims which may arise in favor of dependents: (1) The claims of dependents in cases where the