Whitehead v. Casey Building Wreckers, Inc.

294 A.2d 215, 6 Pa. Commw. 256, 1972 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 382
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 16, 1972
DocketAppeal, No. 772 C.D. 1971
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 294 A.2d 215 (Whitehead v. Casey Building Wreckers, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Whitehead v. Casey Building Wreckers, Inc., 294 A.2d 215, 6 Pa. Commw. 256, 1972 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 382 (Pa. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Mencer,

On August 21, 1967, Willie Lee Whitehead, claimant-appellant, fell from a wall at his place of employment and suffered a fracture of his left tibia. On October 5, 1967, a compensation agreement was entered into as a result of the injuries suffered in the accident. Under the terms of this agreement, claimant was paid compensation from August 27, 1967', to May 12, 1968, at which time claimant executed a final receipt based on a medical report, dated May 10, 1968, of John A. Perri, M.D.1 Claimant then reported to his employer for work, but, for conflicting reasons in the record, did not resume his former employment.

Claimant thereafter unsuccessfully sought other employment and applied for and received unemployment compensation from the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Bureau, after indicating on the appropriate forms that he was physically able to work.

Subsequently claimant timely filed a Petition To Set Aside the Final Receipt, and a hearing was held before Referee Jerome Myers. Referee Myers, after hearing the, testimony of claimant and defendant company’s manager, and after physically observing claimant’s knee, granted the petition and reinstated claimant’s benefits. Exceptions were filed to Referee Myers’ decision by the State Workmen’s Insurance Fund. These exceptions were limited to the Referee’s fourth finding of fact: “Your referee finds as a fact that the final receipt was executed under mistake of fact and that the [259]*259claimant, at the time of signing, continued to be totally disabled.”

The Board rendered its decision, reversing the Referee, vacated his fourth finding of fact and first conclusion of law, and substituted the following: “Fourth [finding of fact]: Claimant was able to return to work without any disability or loss of earning power due to injuries received by him on August 21, 1967, when he executed a final receipt on or about May 13, 1968. First [conclusion of law]: Claimant has failed to prove the allegation of his Petition To Set Aside the Final Receipt and is, therefore, not entitled to have the prayer of his petition granted.” (Emphasis added.) Claimant then appealed to the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, which affirmed the decision of the Board, and then to this Court.

Our scope of review, since the decision of the Board was against the claimant, is whether the Board’s findings of fact are consistent with each other and with its conclusions of law and order and can be sustained without a capricious disregard of the evidence. Frombach v. United States Steel Corp., 2 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 556, 279 A. 2d 779 (1971); Bednar v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 194 Pa. Superior Ct. 10, 166 A. 2d 305 (1960).

The following from Bun v. Central Pa. Quarry, S. & C. Co., 194 Pa. Superior Ct. 630, 634-6, 169 A. 2d 804, 806-7 (1961), concerning §434 of The Pennsylvania Workmen’s Compensation Act, Act of June 2, 1915, P. L. 736, as amended, 77 P.S. §1001 (the Act), is likewise applicable here: “In our consideration of this appeal it is important to bear in mind the legislative history of Section 434 of the statute (77 P.S. 1001) dealing with the setting aside of final receipts. This section, as originally added by the Act of June 26, 1919, P. L. 642, provided that a final receipt could be set aside at any time ‘if it be proved that such receipt was procured by [260]*260fraud, coercion, or other improper conduct of a party or is founded upon mistake of law or of fact.’ The section was amended by the Act of June 4, 1937, P. L. 1552, to provide that a final receipt could be set aside at any time within six hundred weeks from the date of the injury if it be proved ‘that the injured employe was not in fact able to return to work without loss of earning power ... or that the employe had an existing disability at the time the final receipt was taken.’ The section was again amended by the Act of June 21, 1939, P. L. 520, to provide that a final receipt could be sét aside at any time within two years from the date to which payment is made ‘if it be conclusively proved that such receipt was procured by fraud, coercion, or other improper conduct of a party, or is founded upon mistake of law or of fact.’ The section was finally amended by the Act of February 28, 1956, P. L. (1955) 1120, to provide that a final receipt could be set aside at any time within two years from the date to which payments have been made ‘if it be conclusively proved that all disability due to the accident in fact had not terminated.’ * * * The term ‘conclusive proof’ requires claimant to sustain his burden merely by proof which is clear and convincing.”

Language from that same Superior Court case is applicable here because it is evident from a reading of the Board’s opinion that its “. . . whole argument is based on the language of the 1939 amendment. Entirely overlooked is the less exacting language in the 1956 amendment, which governs the instant case because it was in effect on the date the final receipt was signed,. See Uglaky v. Hudson Coal Co., 152 Pa. Superior Ct. 301, 31 A. 2d 743. As a matter of fact, the 1956 amendment was in effect on the date of the accident. The only present requirement to set aside a final receipt is conclusive proof that all disability due to the accident in fact had not terminated at the time the receipt was [261]*261signed.” 194 Pa. Superior Ct. at 635, 169 A. 2d at 807 (emphasis added).

As evidence of this misapplication of the law, we quote from the Board’s opinion:

“. . . In the case of McGahen vs. General Electric Company, 406 Pa. 57 (1962), cited in the case of Dennis vs. E. J. Lavino and Company, 203 Pa. Super. 357 at 359, the Court held that a final receipt must control unless there be of record conclusive proof that the receipt was procured by fraud, coercion or other improper conduct on the part of the employer or ivas founded on a mutual mistake of law or fact.

“In our opinion, no such conclusive proof appear;; of record of a mutual mistake that claimant ivas actually totally disabled when he signed the final receipt. The only medical evidence is Dr. Perri’s statement that claimant could and should return to his former occupation.”

The lower court also applied an outmoded standard for its decision affirming the Board, as evidenced by the following from its opinion: “. . . When the Compensation Act, 77 P.S. §1001 gives the board power to set aside a final receipt at any time within two years from the latest date on which payment was made, the provision specifically refers to execution of the receipt upon mistake of law or fact. The mistake must be of a more definite nature than that upon Avhich initial compensation is based. Prybish v. Heidelberg Coal Company, 159 Pa. Super. 12, 46 A. 2d 509; Bronkowski v. Colonial Colliery Company, 153 Pa. Super. 574, 34 A. 2d 837. Where one is under a mistaken belief that he has recovered sufficiently to return to work, such mistaken belief would not, by itself, warrant setting aside a final receipt. Cooper v. Byllesby Engineering & Management Co., 140 Pa. Super. 158, 14 A. 2d 222.” The court then concluded by quoting at length from the same case on which the Board had relied — McGahen v. [262]*262General Electric Co., 406 Pa. 57, 177 A. 2d 85 (1962). That case is inapposite because there the final receipt was signed by the employee on March 28,-1952, previous to the 1956 Amendment of §434 of the Act, 77 P.S. §1001.

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Bluebook (online)
294 A.2d 215, 6 Pa. Commw. 256, 1972 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whitehead-v-casey-building-wreckers-inc-pacommwct-1972.