Mark v. WCAB (McCurdy)

In Mark v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (McCurdy), 894 A.2d 229, 233 n.6 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2006), in May 1997, after years of litigation regarding the claimant's claim petition, "the first WCJ granted the claimant on-going benefits retroactive to early September 1993." Id. at 232. The employer appealed to the Board and filed a supersedeas request, which the Board denied. Id. The Board subsequently affirmed the WCJ's holding that claimant proved a work-related aggravation to a preexisting condition. The Board reversed the WCJ's factual finding that claimant has an on-going disability and remanded to the WCJ to determine the date upon which the claimant was fully recovered. On remand, a second WCJ found that, as of August 1995, the claimant had recovered from the aggravation of her preexisting condition and terminated benefits effective August 1998. Id. The Board affirmed this decision. "The significance of this second WCJ decision is that benefits initially awarded for disability from August 1995 until the August 1998 decision on termination were ultimately determined not to be payable. Those benefits were paid after the supersedeas request was denied." Id. at 232-33. Before this Court, the parties were contesting the benefits paid to the claimant "for disability from the August 1995 recovery date to the June 1997 supersedeas request." Id. at 233. However, the parties did agree that the insurer should be reimbursed for the periods after the supersedeas request in June 1997. Id. In January 2003, the insurer sought reimbursement from the Supersedeas Fund. The Bureau determined that the insurer would only be reimbursed for payments after the June 1997 supersedeas request and that the insurer would not be reimbursed "retroactive benefits paid for periods before the request" was made. Id. at 232-33. A third WCJ also determined that reimbursement from the Supersedeas Fund could only be had "for payments attributable to disability periods occurring after the supersedeas request" was made. Id. at 233. This determination was affirmed by the Board.