Metropolitan Ambulance, Inc. v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
Metropolitan Ambulance, Inc. v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
Opinion of the Court
The issue before this Court is whether an employer has met his burden of proving that a claimant was no longer disabled from a work-related injury thus, allowing for termination of benefits.
Metropolitan Ambulance, Inc. (Employer) appeals from the order of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB), which followed a remand from this Court’s opinion reported at Metropolitan Ambulance, Inc. v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Walker), 702 A.2d 881 (Pa.Cmwlth. 1997). We affirm.
In 1987, Allen Walker (Claimant), an ambulance driver for Employer, was injured while in the course and scope of his employment. In 1988, Employer filed a termination petition, asserting that Claimant had fully recovered from his work-related injury. Crediting Employer’s medical expert, Dr. Klinghoffer, the Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) granted Employer’s termination petition. However, on appeal, the WCAB concluded that Dr. Klinghoffer’s testimony did not constitute substantial evidence to support the WCJ’s decision. On appeal, we carefully reviewed Dr. Kling-hoffer’s testimony, which discussed his belief that functional overlay magnified Claimant’s ongoing complaints. We stated:
However, it is also not clear that the Board’s reversal of the WCJ on the grounds of ‘no substantial evidence’ was due to the unresolved issue of Claimant’s ‘functional overlay,’ because the Board only made a generalized statement about lack of substantial evidence without ever specifically addressing the ‘functional overlay.’ The case is thus remanded to the Board with instructions to explain by what reasoning it arrived at the conclusion that the WCJ’s decision was not supported by substantial evidence. Because it is not completely clear from Dr. Klinghoffer’s testimony what he meant by ‘functional overlay,’ it might also be necessary for the Board to remand the case to the WCJ for further findings on this issue.
Following remand, the WCAB focused on the fact that Dr. Klinghoffer had never testified that Claimant was fully recovered. It held that “[sjince a functional overlay is com-pensable, and the [employer] failed to prove that a functional overlay was not related to the work injury ... a termination of the Claimant’s benefits was improper as a matter
On further appeal to this Court,
Employer cites several cases
Accordingly, we affirm.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 9th day of November, 1998, the order of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board in the above-captioned matter is hereby affirmed.
Judge LEADBETTER dissents.
. Our scope of review is limited to a determination of whether constitutional rights were violated, an error of law was committed or whether necessary findings of fact are supported by substantial competent evidence. 2 Pa.C.S. §704.
. Jordan v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Consolidated Electrical Distributors), 550 Pa. 232, 704 A.2d 1063 (1997) and Udvari v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (USAir, Inc.), 550 Pa. 319, 705 A.2d 1290 (1997).
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