OPINION BY Judge COVEY. PG Publishing Company d.b.a. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Jonathan Silver (collectively, Gazette) appeal from the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court's (trial court) January 25, 2012 order affirming the Final Order of the Office of Open Records (OOR) affirming Wilkinsburg Borough's (Borough) decision to grant limited access to an employment termination letter, thereby redacting all information contained in the letter except the employment termination language itself...
OPINION BY Judge COVEY. New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., Inc. 1 and PMA Management Corporation (collectively, Employer) petition this Court for review of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board's (Board) July 10, 2012 order affirming the Workers' Compensation Judge's (WCJ) decision granting Anthony Kalmanowicz's (Claimant) claim petition. There is essentially one issue for this Court's review: whether the Board erred by determining that Claimant proved a physical/mental injury. We affirm....
OPINION BY Senior Judge FRIEDMAN. Kathleen C. Lopresti (Claimant) petitions for review of the April 27, 2012, order of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review (UCBR), affirming the referee's dismissal of Claimant's appeal as untimely. We affirm. Claimant received a notice of determination from the local service center denying benefits on November 21, 2011. (UCBR's Findings of Fact, No. 1.) The notice informed Claimant that the deadline for filing an appeal was December 6, 2011. (UCBR's...
OPINION BY Judge LEAVITT. The Ross Township Civil Service Commission appeals an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (trial court) reversing the Commission's determination that Officers William Barrett and Benjamin Dripps (collectively, Officers) were ineligible to sit for a promotional examination because they had received "formal written reprimands" less than one year before the date of the examination. The trial court found that the letters sent to the Officers by their...
OPINION BY Judge COVEY. Elina Umedman (Umedman) petitions for review of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review's (UCBR) January 20, 2012 order reversing the Referee's order, thereby denying Umedman unemployment compensation (UC) benefits. There are essentially four issues for this Court's review: (1) whether the UCBR's decision was supported by substantial evidence; (2) whether the UCBR erred in failing to consider the City Health Department's unwritten "closure prevention policy;" (3)...
OPINION BY Judge COVEY. Joseph F. York (Claimant) petitions this Court for review of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review's (UCBR) January 19, 2012 order affirming the Referee's decision denying benefits. Claimant presents ten issues for this Court's review: (1) whether the Referee's refusal to issue a subpoena to produce records was reversible error; (2) whether the Referee erred by failing to recuse herself; (3) whether Northampton Borough's (Employer) appeal of the initial Notice...
OPINION BY Senior Judge COLINS. This matter is an appeal from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County (the trial court) denying a motion for return of property. John Morelli (Morelli) pleaded guilty in 2006 to Manufacture, Delivery or Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Manufacture or Deliver in violation of Section 13(a)(30) of the Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act (the Controlled Substance Act). 1 Morelli now appeals from the trial court'...
OPINION BY Judge LEAVITT. Grand Prix Harrisburg, LLC (Taxpayer) appeals an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County (trial court) denying its challenge to its 2009 real estate assessment of $7,958,700 as excessive. Instead, the trial court established a higher assessment for Taxpayer in the amount of $9,270,750. In reaching this conclusion, the trial court relied on the expert testimony of the taxing authorities and rejected the expert testimony of Taxpayer. However, the trial...
OPINION BY Senior Judge FRIEDMAN. The Pennsylvania State University (Perm State) and The PMA Insurance Group (collectively, Employer) petition for review of a Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB) order, dated November 18, 2011, which affirmed the decision of a workers' compensation judge (WCJ) awarding fatal claim benefits to Sandra Rabin (Claimant). We affirm. At the time of his death, Dr. Jack Rabin (Decedent) worked for Perm State as a professor of public administration. In June 2007,...
OPINION BY Senior Judge FRIEDMAN. Robert Monastra (Monastra) appeals from the September 21, 2011, order of the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County (trial court), which granted the motions for summary judgment filed by the Delaware County Sheriff's Office (Sheriff's Office) and the Springfield Township Police Department (Police Department) (collectively, Appellees). We affirm. On February 26, 2009, deputies from the Sheriff's Office went to Monastra's home to serve an arrest warrant on...
OPINION BY Judge COVEY. Girard Finance Company (Girard Finance) and Thomas Richter (Richter) appeal from the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission's (PHRC) October 24, 2011 Final Order requiring Girard Finance and Richter to cease and desist from unlawfully discriminating against Kevin Harris (Harris) and others because of their race and/or national origin; directing Girard Finance and Richter to pay various money damages to Harris and each of the similarly situated individuals; directing...
OPINION BY President Judge PELLEGRINI. 1 Before this Court are preliminary objections filed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (Commission), et al., 2 (collectively, the Commonwealth) in response to a petition for review filed by Robinson Township, et al., 3 (collectively, Petitioners) challenging the constitutionality of Act 13. 4 Also before the Court is Petitioner's motion for summary relief seeking judgment in their favor. 5 The Commission...
OPINION BY Judge COVEY. Drexelbrook Associates and L. William Kay, II(Kay) appeal the July 25, 2011 Final Order of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) requiring Drexelbrook Associates and Kay to cease and desist from retaliation against anyone having filed a discrimination claim and ordering various monetary damages in favor of Ingrid Dotson Luderman (Dotson). There are essentially two issues before the Court: (1) whether Dotson timely filed her action against Drexelbrook...
OPINION BY Judge McCULLOUGH. Presently before the Court are the preliminary objections of Governor Tom Corbett, Budget Secretary Charles Zogby, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and its elected, presiding officers (hereafter Respondents) to the second amended petition for review in the nature of a class action complaint filed by Petitioners seeking declaratory, mandamus, and equitable relief with respect to Respondents' alleged violations of the Tobacco Settlement Act (...
OPINION BY Judge SIMPSON. In this appeal from a dismissal of a complaint raising defamation claims, Victor and Stephanie Balletta, Michael and Susan Proetto, and Michael Reis (collectively, Appellants) ask whether the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County (trial court) erred in sustaining the preliminary objections filed by the Northampton County Solicitor's Office, the Northampton County Sheriff's Office, Assistant County Solicitor Christopher Spadoni, and Deputy Sheriff Dave Ruberry (...
OPINION BY Judge LEAVITT. Anthony Wagner (Claimant) petitions for review of an adjudication of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Board) that denied his claim for benefits for the reason that he was exempt from coverage under his employer's workers' compensation policy. The Board affirmed the dispositive factual finding of the Workers' Compensation Judge (WCJ) that Claimant, an executive officer of the corporation that employed him, had exempted himself from coverage, in accordance with...
OPINION BY President Judge PELLEGRINI. William Crumley (Crumley) and the River Park House Owners Association (Association) appeal from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County (trial court) granting judgment in favor of Crumley in the Association's suit to recover unpaid condominium assessments, late fees, and attorneys' fees pursuant to a bulk services contract for cable television (Contract) entered into by the Association's executive board and permitting ratification of...
OPINION BY Senior Judge FRIEDMAN. Thomas F. Ribarchak d/b/a Fisher Associates (Fisher) appeals from the June 17, 2011, order of the Court of Common Pleas of Washington County (trial court), which denied Fisher's motion for partial summary judgment and granted the motion for summary judgment of the Municipal Authority of the City of Monongahela (Authority), Galway Bay Corporation (Galway) and Chester Engineers, Inc. (Chester) (collectively, Appellees). 1 We affirm. The Authority, by and...
OPINION BY Judge LEAVITT. New Century Pipeline (New Century) appeals an order of the Court of Common Pleas of McKean County (trial court) affirming a decision of the Bradford Township Zoning Hearing Board (Board) that New Century's compressor station, located where natural gas emerges from the wellhead, is not a use permitted in the Forest/Slope Residence District (Forest District). The Bradford Township Zoning Ordinance (Zoning Ordinance) 1 permits oil and gas production in the Forest...
OPINION BY Judge LEAVITT. Rhonda Walker (Claimant) petitions for review of an adjudication of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Board) denying her request for a disfigurement award for her nose, reinstatement of total disability benefits and amendment of the notice of compensation payable (NCP) to include additional work injuries. In doing so, the Board affirmed the Workers' Compensation Judge's (WCJ) decision with regard to the reinstatement and additional injuries. However, the Board...
