292
Opinion of the Court
in which to seek modification does not indicate a congressional intent to limit other parts of § 22. Nor is there any evidence that when Congress reenacted the phrase "change in conditions" as late as 1984, it was endorsing prior Court of Appeals' decisions limiting the phrase to changes in physical conditions. In addition, the dicta in those cases that Rambo claims is swept away by the Court's reading of § 22 is neither authoritative nor persuasive. Finally, experience in the 11 years since Fleet-wood does not suggest that the Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP) and courts will be flooded with litigation arising from modification requests based on every change in an employee's wages. Such an argument is better directed at Congress or the OWCP Director than at the courts; and it is based on a misconception of the LHWCA and the instant holding, for a change in wage-earning capacity will occur with a change in actual wages only when those wages fairly and reasonably represent such capacity. Pp. 298-303. 28 F. 3d 86, reversed and remanded.
Kennedy, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and O'Connor, Scalia, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, and Breyer, JJ., joined. Stevens, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 301.
Robert Evans Babcock argued the cause and filed briefs for petitioner.
Jeffrey P. Minear argued the cause for the federal respondent in support of petitioner under this Court's Rule 12.4. With him on the briefs were Solicitor General Days, Deputy Solicitor General Kneedler, Allen H. Feldman, Nathaniel I. Spiller, and Edward D. Sieger.
Thomas J. Pierry argued the cause and filed a brief for respondent Rambo.*
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court. Section 22 of the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA or Act), 44 Stat. 1437, as amended, 33 U. S. C. § 922, allows for modification of a disability award
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for Industrial Indemnity Insurance Co. by Roger A. Levy; and for the National Association of Waterfront Employers et al. by Charles T. Carroll, Jr., Thomas D. Wilcox, and Franklin W. Losey.
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