Court Opinion

ID: 9766414
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:47:39.015763+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:22.352017
License: Public Domain

CAPPY, Justice,
concurring.
I join the Majority Opinion. I would likewise reverse the judgment and order of the Commonwealth Court based upon the unrefuted and unrebutted testimony of Appellant’s expert, Dr. Klemens, that pneumoconiosis is irreversible (R. 30a-31), which testimony was corroborated by employer’s expert, Dr. Ketter (R. 23a). I agree that an opening of the original, unappealed determination that Appellant suffered from work-related pneumoconiosis constituted impermissible relitigation.
I write separately to point out that there may be circumstances where a once irreversible disease may, due to advances in medical science, become reversible and, in such event, an employer should have the right to establish that fact at a subsequent workmen’s compensation termination hearing.
NIX, C.J., and FLAHERTY and MONTEMURO, JJ., join.