OPINION BY Judge COVEY . 1 Katera's Kove, Inc. (Employer) petitions this Court for review of the Unemployment Compensation (UC) Board of Review's (UCBR) March 3, 2015 order vacating the Referee's decision and finding Georgia L. Howard (Claimant) eligible for UC benefits under Section 402(e.1) of the UC Law (Law). 2 Employer essentially presents one issue for this Court's review: whether the UCBR erred in concluding that Claimant was eligible for UC benefits. After review, we reverse....
OPINION BY Judge COHN JUBELIRER . Lawrence Robinson appeals from the May 15, 2014 Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County (trial court) that found in favor of The Arches Condominium Association (Association) and awarded the Association $27,355.68, $26,206.68 of which was for attorney's fees related to the Association's action to collect unpaid condominium (condo) fees and assessments. Robinson challenges the award of attorney's fees. Also before this Court is the...
OPINION BY Judge LEAVITT . Jamie Gahring (Claimant) petitions for review of an adjudication of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Board) denying his claim for benefits for a back injury. The Board affirmed the determination of the Workers' Compensation Judge (WCJ) that Claimant's prior employer, R and R Builders (Employer I), was not liable for the back injury because the aggravation of Claimant's pre-existing back injury occurred while he was working as a cook at Stoudt's Brewing...
OPINION BY President Judge PELLEGRINI . Mary Ellen Chesik (Claimant) petitions for review of the order of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Board) affirming the decision of a workers' compensation judge (WCJ) who granted the petition of the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs (Employer) to suspend Claimant's workers' compensation benefits under the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act (Act) 1 because she had voluntarily withdrawn from the workforce. We reverse. In July...
OPINION BY Judge McCULLOUGH . Presently before this Court is the application of UGI Utilities, Inc. (UGI) for partial summary relief seeking a declaration that several provisions of Administrative Ordinance No. 16-2013 (the Ordinance) enacted by the City of Lancaster (City) are invalid and preempted by the Public Utility Code (Code), 66 Pa.C.S. 101-3316, and an order enjoining enforcement of these provisions. I. Facts and Procedural History The underlying facts of this case are not...
OPINION BY Judge LEAVITT . Jon J. Keller appeals an order of the Court of Common Pleas of York County (trial court) granting the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's petition for forfeiture of Keller's 2009 Ford Mustang, which was seized in the course of a drug transaction with an undercover police officer. The trial court held that because the vehicle was used as collateral in the transaction, its forfeiture was authorized by the statute commonly known as the Controlled Substances Forfeiture...
OPINION BY Senior Judge JAMES GARDNER COLINS . Sheldon Schwartz and Paul Abeln (collectively Appellants) 1 appeal the July 1, 2014 order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County (Trial Court) holding that the definition of "family" contained in Section 14-102(49) of the former Philadelphia Zoning Code (Code) is constitutional on its face and as applied to Appellants. We affirm. This appeal arises out of two matters that proceeded separately before the City of Philadelphia...
OPINION BY President Judge PELLEGRINI . This matter involves three appeals involving the Office of Open Records' (OOR) release of records under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law (RTKL) 1 relating to West Chester University's (WCU) proposed separation from the State System of Higher Education (SSHE). WCU and Bravo Group, Inc. (Bravo), a lobbying firm hired by WCU to promote those efforts, petition for review of the OOR's Final Determination that granted in part and denied in part the...
OPINION BY Judge McGINLEY . Dorian E. Pfeifer, Susan D. Payne, Diane Torockio, Richard R. Dailey, Susan M. Peterman, Deborah R. Miller, Linda Blackburn Scott, Ruth Ellen Gallagher, and Judith A. Gallagher (collectively Appellants), appeal from the Order of Court entered by the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County (common pleas court) that granted Westmoreland County Tax Claim Bureau; BP Mineral Holdings III, LLC; Somerset Minerals, LP; BRC Appalachian Minerals I, LLC (...
OPINION BY Senior Judge JAMES GARDNER COLINS . Before this Court is the appeal of Lorraine Sulla (Sulla) from the July 9, 2014 order of the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County (Trial Court) in the above-captioned zoning enforcement matter. Because Sulla did not file a Petition to Intervene before the Trial Court, we quash the appeal. The rules governing intervention in land use appeals have been strictly applied by this Court, including instances where the party seeking to...
OPINION BY President Judge PELLEGRINI . Antwaun Raymoan Wilson (Wilson) petitions for review of the decision of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole (Board) denying his Petition for Administrative Review of the Board's order recommitting him as a convicted parole violator to serve 24 months backtime and recalculating his new parole violation maximum date as October 2, 2017. Citing Section 6138(a)(4) of the Prisons and Parole Code, 61 Pa.C.S. 6138(a)(4), 1 Wilson sought...
OPINION BY Judge LEAVITT . The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) seeks a declaratory judgment that as a Commonwealth agency it is not subject to the City of Philadelphia's anti-discrimination ordinance, but only to the provisions of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. 1 The defendants, the City and the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (Philadelphia Commission), demurred to the complaint, and the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County (trial...
OPINION BY Judge COHN JUBELIRER . Jose Osorio Lozado (Claimant) petitions for review of an Order of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Board) affirming the Decisions of a Workers' Compensation Judge (WCJ) denying Claimant's "Claim Petition for Benefits from the Uninsured Employers Guaranty Fund [Fund] and Uninsured Employer" (Claim Petition). The WCJ denied Claimant's Claim Petition because Claimant failed to provide timely notice to the Fund that his former employer, Dependable...
OPINION BY Judge LEAVITT . Jordan Russell, Gary A. Meyer, Rita A. Meyer, Gunther J. Kaier, Virginia C. Kaier, Doran B. Mauldin, Olga Mauldin, Ray D. Moffitt, and Martha M. Moffitt (Landowners) appeal an order of the Washington County Court of Common Pleas (trial court), which granted injunctive relief to Peters Township (Township). Specifically, the trial court ordered Landowners to remove a gate they had installed across a private road and permanently enjoined them from replacing it, or...
OPINION BY Senior Judge , FRIEDMAN. Scott Lee Staron, d/b/a Lee's Metal Roof Coatings & Painting (Employer) petitions for review of the November 6, 2014, order of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB) that affirmed the October 21, 2013, decision of the workers' compensation judge (WCJ) granting Thomas Farrier's (Claimant) claim petition. We affirm. On October 5, 2011, Claimant filed a claim petition alleging that he sustained a work-related injury while working as a painter for...
OPINION BY Judge BROBSON . The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) petitions for review of the Office of Open Records' (OOR) final determination granting the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's (Requester) request for records under the Right-to-Know Law (RTKL). 1 For the reasons stated below, we reverse. On August 5, 2014 the Requester filed a RTKL request (Request), seeking "[a]ll of the emails of Acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq as they pertain to the performance of her...
OPINION BY President Judge PELLEGRINI . Lyons Borough (Borough) and Lyons Borough Municipal Authority (LBMA) appeal the order of the Berks County Court of Common Pleas (trial court) denying their appeal of the Township of Maxatawny's (Township) approval of the Final Land Development Plan (Final Plan) submitted by Apollo Point, L.P. (Apollo Point) and Saucony Creek, L.P. (Saucony Creek) (collectively, Landowners) under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) 1 and the Township'...
OPINION BY President Judge PELLEGRINI . The Governor's Office of Administration (GOA) and the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) filed preliminary objections to PG Publishing Company, Inc. d/b/a The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PG Publishing)'s amended petition for review. For the reasons that follow, we sustain the GOA and PDE's demurrers and dismiss PG Publishing's amended petition for review with prejudice. I. PG Publishing 1 filed an amended petition for review in the nature of...
OPINION BY Judge BROBSON . Robert Edinger (Appellant) appeals from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County (trial court), which granted the Borough of Portland's (Borough) motion for summary judgment. We now affirm. Appellant was employed by the Borough as a municipal police officer. In 2010, the Borough terminated Appellant's employment, and Appellant filed a complaint with the trial court alleging, in part, that the Borough violated 42 U.S.C. 1983 by depriving him...
OPINION BY Judge McGINLEY . In these consolidated actions 1 Butler County Tax Claim Bureau (Tax Claim Bureau) and judicial tax sale purchaser, Warren Capenos (Capenos) (collectively "Appellants"), appeal directly from the Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Verdict entered by the Court of Common Pleas of Butler County (trial court) in favor of M.C. and E.K. Lees, Inc. (Appellee). Appellee has filed a Motion to Quash Appellants' appeals on the grounds that they failed to file post-...
