Opinion
Argued September 15, 1978
October 17, 1978.
Workmen's compensation — Decision of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania — New evidence — Final adjudication.
1. A judgment of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in a workmen's compensation case from which no appeal was taken is a final adjudication, and, in the absence of a showing of new evidence which was unavailable at the time of the original hearing, a party is not entitled to a new hearing on the matter before the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board. [137]
Argued September 15, 1978, before Judges CRUMLISH, JR., WILKINSON, JR. and CRAIG, sitting as a panel of three.
Appeal, No. 1339 C.D. 1977, from the Order of the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board in case of Estate of Samuel Lerner, Deceased, Sidney S. Lerner, M.D., Administrator, v. Philadelphia Psychiatric Center, No. A-69972.
Petition to terminate workmen's compensation agreement with Department of Labor and Industry. Petition granted in part. Parties appealed to the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board. Decision affirmed. Employe's administrator appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Affirmed as modified. ( 26 Pa. Commw. 208) Petition for rehearing filed with the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board by employe's administrator. Petition denied. Employe's administrator appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Affirmed. Petition for reargument filed and denied.
Sidney S. Lerner, M.D., petitioner, for himself. Larry Pitt, with him Sharon F. Harvey, and James N. Diefenderfer, for respondents.
The only issue here is whether Appellant, Sidney S. Lerner, may require the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Board) to open hearings on a matter previously adjudicated by the Board and argued before and finally decided by this Court where he is unable to show new evidence which was unavailable at the time of the prior hearing. Our prior decision constituted a final adjudication of the issues and the Board properly concluded that it had no authority to grant a rehearing.
See Lerner v. Philadelphia Psychiatric Center, 26 Pa. Commw. 208, 363 A.2d 873 (1976).
Accordingly, we
ORDER
AND NOW, this 17th day of October, 1978, the decision of the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board is affirmed.