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City of Philadelphia v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board1/31/2001
SUBMITTED: DECEMBER 8, 2000
The City of Philadelphia (Employer) petitions for review of the order of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Board) that affirmed the decision of the Workers' Compensation Judge (WCJ) that granted the claim petition of Isaac Wilson (Claimant).
Claimant was employed as a police officer by Employer. On December 12, 1995, Claimant, while off-duty, helped his cousin repair his car. While driving home, Claimant observed a man assaulting a woman. Claimant stopped his car, approached the pair, identified himself as a police officer, displayed his badge, and intervened. Claimant attempted to halt the altercation and protect the woman. He went to a pay phone near the corner of 29 th Street and Lehigh to call for assistance. While on foot, Claimant was struck by a car. He suffered a fractured skull, fractured left tibia, internal trauma, brain damage, memory loss, and facial disfigurement.
Initially, following his release from the hospital, Claimant had no recollection of the accident. Sometime after March 1996, Claimant reviewed the police report of the accident and contacted a witness identified in the report, Lee Banks (Banks). With the assistance of his wife, Claimant began making inquiries in the area of 29 th and Lehigh and gradually began to remember some of the events of December 12.
Eventually, Claimant met Willie Jones (Jones) who told Claimant that on December 12 he observed a man attempt to strike a woman. Jones saw Claimant intercede, display his badge and identify himself as a police officer. Jones reported to Claimant that he witnessed this scene shortly before the accident. Jones did not witness the accident, but turned back when he heard a crash and saw Claimant beneath the vehicle.
On or about April 8, 1997, Claimant petitioned for benefits and alleged that he was in the course and scope of his employment when injured.
Before the WCJ, the parties stipulated that Claimant was totally disabled since December 12, 1995, as a result of the accident. Claimant testified that he told a police investigator in March 1996 that he did not know how he got to 29 th and Lehigh, only that he remembered being lifted into the ambulance. Notes of Testimony, June 20, 1997, (N.T. 6/20/97) at 16; Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 31a. Claimant testified that in February 1997, he and his wife went to 29 th and Lehigh and talked to Banks. N.T. 6/20/97 at 19-20; R.R. at 34a-35a. Claimant testified that about March 1, 1997, he again returned to 29 th and Lehigh, this time at about the same time as the accident. He recalled speaking with his wife, "And she kept saying, you know, let's go, let's go. And I said wait a minute and I started thinking about it. And then my memory came back to me what exactly happened out there." N.T. 6/20/97 at 22-23; R.R. at 37a-38a.
Jones testified that he first became aware of interest in information about the accident in March 1997. Notes of Testimony, September 12, 1997, (N.T. 9/12/97) at 7; R.R. at 73a. Jones testified consistently with what he previously had told Claimant he saw on December 12. Jones corroborated Claimant's testimony.
The WCJ found Claimant and Jones credible, rejected Banks's testimony as "incredible in the greatest degree" and awarded Claimant benefits. The WCJ did not address the issue of the notice requirement imposed by Section 311 of the Workers' Compensation Act (Act), 73 P.S. ยง631.
Employer appealed to the Board. On the issue of notice, the Board held:
As stated before, Claimant's injuries included a serious head injury and he had no immediate recollection of what had preceded the accident. It was only after t
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