Title: Gumro v. WCAB
Citation: 533 Pa. 461, 626 A.2d 94
Docket Number: N/A
State: Pennsylvania
Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Date: May 26, 1993

533 Pa. 461 (1993) 626 A.2d 94 Lawrence GUMRO, Appellant, v. WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION APPEAL BOARD and Emerald Mines Corporation, Appellees. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Submitted September 21, 1992. Decided May 26, 1993. Reargument Denied August 23, 1993. *462 Susan Ritz Harper, Uniontown, for appellant. Daniel J. Iler, Ceisler/Richman Law Firm, Washington, for Emerald Mines Corp. Before NIX, C.J., and LARSEN, FLAHERTY, ZAPPALA, PAPADAKOS, CAPPY, and MONTEMURO, JJ. NIX, Chief Justice. The issue instantly presented is whether the Commonwealth Court properly concluded that the referee's finding that Appellant's injury was not work related was established by the evidence presented. For the reasons that follow, we hold that the referee's conclusions were not supported by substantial evidence and we reverse the Order of the Commonwealth Court. This case stems from the following facts: Appellant, Lawrence Gumro, employed by Appellee, Emerald Mines Corporation, injured himself when he stepped in a hole at Appellee's coal mine and twisted his left knee. He received workmen's compensation benefits from February 25, 1985 to June 13, *463 1986. He had arthroscopic surgery on March 5, 1985, and then developed pain and swelling in his left leg, attributable to a blood clot. He continued to have pain and swelling, which his treating physician attributed to deep venous insufficiency. Appellant returned to work for a few days, but could not continue. Eventually, Appellee assigned him to a light-duty job, and Appellant received partial disability benefits. Then, on June 26, 1986, Appellee laid off Appellant and other employees. Appellant filed a penalties petition, and the Appellee filed a petition for termination of compensation. The referee approved the employee's termination of benefits and made the following conclusions of fact and law: The Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board affirmed the decision of the referee on June 12, 1989. Appellant appealed to the Commonwealth Court, which affirmed the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board's decision on September 20, 1990. The divided panel of the Commonwealth Court noted that the referee had erroneously placed the burden on Appellant to prove the causal relationship between his injury and his remaining disability. However, it found the error to be harmless, because substantial evidence supported the referee's finding that the Appellant had recovered from his work-related injury. Gumro v. W.C.A.B. (Emerald Mines Corp.), No. 1229 Civil Docket 1989, slip op. at 7 (Pa.Commw.Ct., Sept. 20, 1990). The Commonwealth Court relied upon the following testimony of Dr. Stanley Falor, a witness for the employer, as the basis of its finding that the Appellant had recovered from his work-related injury. *466 Id., slip op. at 4-6. The Commonwealth Court found this testimony to be the substantial evidence to justify the referee's finding. The Appellant sought allocatur from this Court, which we granted. 527 Pa. 638, 592 A.2d 1305 (1991). We now reverse. Appellant argues that the referee's decision was not supported by substantial evidence.[2] Appellee argues that it was. We agree with the Appellant. Our review of the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board is limited to determining whether constitutional rights were violated, whether an error of law was committed, or whether the findings of fact were supported by substantial evidence. City of Harrisburg v. W.C.A.B. (Gebhart), 532 Pa. 592, 616 A.2d 1369 (1992); Murphy v. W.C.A.B (Roadway Express Inc.), 142 Pa.Commw. 416, 598 A.2d 87 (1991), appeal denied, 530 Pa. 649, 607 A.2d 257 (1992); Majesky v. W.C.A.B. (Transit America, Inc.), 141 Pa.Commw. 398, 595 A.2d 761, appeal denied, 529 Pa. 653, 602 A.2d 862 (1991). Where an employer seeks to terminate benefits after the issuance of a Notice of Compensation Payable, the burden is on the employer to prove that the current disability is not related to the work-related injury. Beissel v. W.C.A.B. (John Wanamaker, Inc.), 502 Pa. 178, 465 A.2d 969 (1983). In Beissel, this Court reviewed a petition for termination of benefits filed by John Wanamaker, Inc., which challenged the original causal relationship between the employee's injury and his continuing disability. This Court held that once a Notice of Compensation Payable was filed, the burden is on the employer to prove that the disability has changed to justify a termination. Id. at 182, 465 A.2d at 971. Likewise, if an employer asserts not that the disability has changed, but that there is an independent cause for the disability, unrelated to the original work injury, the employer bears "the burden of proving that an *467 independent cause of an employee's disability arose after the filing of a notice of compensation payable if the petitioner is seeking to justify the termination of benefits on the grounds that the employee's disability is no longer work-related." Id. at 185, 465 A.2d at 972. Beissel clearly controls the instant matter. Appellant received full benefits when he was out of work and then received partial benefits when he returned to a different job at a reduced salary. The record includes the Notice of Compensation Payable dated March 20, 1985. Upon Notice of Compensation Payable, the burden is on the employer to prove that an independent cause exists. The evidence ruled upon by the referee, and later the Commonwealth Court, does not fulfill the employer's burden to prove that the causal relationship no longer exists, nor does it prove that an independent cause arose after the injury. Dr. Falor explicitly states that he cannot comment on the causal relationship between the arthroscopic surgery and the venous insufficiency: Gumro, slip op. at 7 (emphasis added). Clearly, this cannot provide the basis for terminating benefits. Dr. Falor's testimony provides no evidence of a lack of relationship between the venous insufficiency and the knee injury. Thus the Commonwealth Court erroneously found that sufficient evidence supported the referee's findings. Accordingly, the Order of the Commonwealth Court is reversed, and the Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board is ordered to reinstate Appellant's benefits. ZAPPALA, J., concurs in the result. [1] So in original. Probably means "veins in the calf of the claimant's left leg." [2] Appellant also argues that the referee erroneously placed the burden on the Appellant to prove a causal relationship and that he was denied due process because the referee did not examine whether he held a specially created job. The former argument was already accepted by the Commonwealth Court, and we need not address the latter because our relief is based upon Appellant's first argument.