The St. Paul Travelers Companies, Inc. v. Sylvia N. Kuehl

Summary

The court held that the workers’ compensation insurer had standing to seek a declaratory judgment challenging the constitutionality of a statute that enabled a stale survivor-benefits claim because the insurer had a specific legal interest in avoiding the obligation to defend that claim. It also held that exhaustion was excused because the constitutional challenge concerned a limitations provision that functioned as a prerequisite to the commissioner’s subject matter jurisdiction, making further administrative proceedings futile. The judgment declaring the statute unconstitutional was therefore affirmed.