Court Opinion

ID: 9755004
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:21:01.016667+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:57:14.483236
License: Public Domain

PELLEGRINI, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s decision to vacate the Board of Claims’ decision to dismiss two claims filed by Mark Kutnyak because it did not have jurisdiction to hear either of those claims.1
At the outset, it is necessary to note that Kutnyak’s brief is a stream of conscious ramble. What can be discerned, though, is that the first claim arose when Kutnyak was arrested on the charge of burglary. Kutnyak entered into a bail bond contract with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Commonwealth), Zeke’s Bail Bonds and International Fidelity, in which Zeke’s Bail Bonds agreed to be jointly and severally bound to pay the Commonwealth $25,000 if Kutnyak failed to appear at all proceedings regarding a burglary charge. On June 20, 1995, Kutnyak’s bail was revoked and his payment of $2,500 on the bail bond was forfeited and he spent 85 days in jail before his trial and conviction. He filed a claim with the Board contending that the Commonwealth, in revoking his bail, breached a contractual agreement based on the bail bond resulting in a loss of $2,500 and 85 days of wages.
The second claim arose during his confinement at the State Correctional Institution at Retreat. To receive mail, Kutnyak executed a power of attorney with the Department of Corrections (Department) providing for the Superintendent/Director of the institution to receive and document receipt of mail on Kutnyak’s behalf for as long as he was confined as an inmate to an institution within the Department. When the Department purportedly failed to provide him with a receipt for mail posted with the Department for an appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the Commonwealth’s breach of the bail bond, he filed a claim against the Department, alleging that this failure resulted in a loss of $800 in out-of-pocket expenses related to his appeal. The Board dismissed these claims for lack of jurisdiction.
As to the bail bond claim, the majority affirms the Board’s dismissal of Kutnyak’s breach of bail bond claim, but does so not on the basis that the claim was untimely filed, but because no claim has accrued in that the Commonwealth has not affirmatively and unequivocally denied Kutnyak’s claim for the cost of his bail bond and his lost wages. Therefore, the six-month statute of limitations contained in The Board of Claims Act2 does not apply. Rather than decide this issue on the basis of ripeness, I would affirm the Board based on its lack of jurisdiction to hear this matter even if it was timely filed. When a bond is issued, it is not a contract in the formal sense but a guarantee by the actor that, if released on bail, he or she will appear for trial. It does not form a contractual relationship with an individual upon arrest and the Commonwealth or the Judicial District that authorized the posting of bail.3 In *1282any event, the sole and exclusive remedy to challenge the revocation of bail is through a hearing challenging the revocation and not by bringing a claim before the Board. Because whether or not the claim is ripe is irrelevant, since the Board lacks jurisdiction to hear the matter, I would affirm the Board on that basis.
As to the power of attorney claim, initially, Kutnyak never raised the issue of the Board’s treatment of the power of attorney claim in his lengthy pro se brief to this Court. The only issue raised that comes close to this issue in the Statement of Questions Involved is Question 5, which states:
After filing an amended complaint following disclosure of instrument DC-155 as Power of Attorney indicating statutory construction of binding agreement on March 1, 1999, did the claimant/appellant file adequate responsive pleadings to the Board on or about March 15,1999 and March 17, 1999 pursuant to Pa RCP 1029, B.O.C. Rule 206(b)(1).
All that Kutnyak is claiming is that he filed an adequate responsive pleading with the Board.
In its opinion, the majority states that on appeal, “Kutnyak also argues that he filed a proper amended complaint pursuant to 61 Pa.Code § 899.206(b)(1), asserting a claim for damages arising from the Department of Correction’s (Department) breach of the November 24, 1995 power of attorney agreement. In raising this issue, Kutnyak apparently believes that the Board dismissed his power of attorney claim.” (Emphasis added). In restating the issue as it does, the majority creates a new issue. Because issues not raised are waived, Kutnyak has failed to preserve the power of attorney issue for appeal. See Van Duser v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 164 Pa.Cmwlth. 96, 642 A.2d 544 (1994).4 Accordingly, I dissent.

.See Section 4 of the Act of May 20, 1937, P.L. 728, as amended, 72 P.S. § 4651-4, which states, in part:
The Board of Claims shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine all claims against the Commonwealth arising from contracts hereafter entered into with the Commonwealth, where the amount in controversy amounts to $300.00 or more.

. See Section 6 of The Board of Claims Act, Act of May 20, 1937, P.L. 728, 72 P.S. § 4651-6.

. Pa.R.Crim.P. 3 defines "Bail” as "the security or other guarantee required and given for the release of a person, conditioned upon a written undertaking, in the form of a bail bond, that the person will appear when required and comply with all conditions set forth in the bail bond.”

. On November 24, 1999, Kutnyak filed a reply brief. Pa. R.A.P. 2185 provides that a party may serve a reply brief within 14 days after service of the preceding brief. A reply brief cannot raise new issues.