Cite as: 505 U. S. 469 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
agency interpretation of the phrase "person entitled to compensation," to which the Court of Appeals should have deferred.
We granted certiorari because of the large number of LHWCA claimants who might be affected by the Court of Appeals' decision. 502 U. S. 1003 (1991). We now affirm.
II
In a statutory construction case, the beginning point must be the language of the statute, and when a statute speaks with clarity to an issue judicial inquiry into the statute's meaning, in all but the most extraordinary circumstance, is finished. Demarest v. Manspeaker, 498 U. S. 184, 190 (1991). The question is whether Cowart, at the time of the Transco settlement, was a "person entitled to compensation" under the terms of § 33(g)(1) of the LHWCA. Cowart concedes that he did not comply with the written-approval requirements of the statute, while Nicklos and Compass do not claim that they lacked notice of the Transco settlement. By the terms of § 33(g)(2), Cowart would have forfeited his LHWCA benefits if, and only if, he was subject to the written-approval provisions of § 33(g)(1). Cowart claims that he is not subject to the approval requirement because in his view the phrase "person entitled to compensation," as long interpreted by both the BRB and the OWCP, limits the reach of § 33(g)(1) to injured workers who are either already receiving compensation payments from their employer, or in whose favor an award of compensation has been entered. Nicklos and Compass, supported by the United States, defend the holding of the Court of Appeals that § 33(g) cannot support that reading. We agree with these respondents and hold that under the plain language of § 33(g), Cowart forfeited his right to further LHWCA benefits by failing to obtain the written approval of Nicklos and Compass prior to settling with Transco.
475
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