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Izzi v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board3/16/2000
SUBMITTED: January 14, 2000
John Izzi petitions for review of a decision of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Board) that denied his request for reconsideration of the Board's June 2, 1993 order which affirmed the decision of Referee Alexander Hamer Jr. to deny Izzi's claim petition. The Board's denial of reconsideration followed this Court's remand of the matter to the Board to afford Izzi an opportunity to establish that he suffered prejudice from the Board's reassignment of his claim petition to Referee Hamer. Izzi requests that this Court determine whether he was denied due process by the participation of Referee Hamer and whether the Board erred in determining that he did not suffer prejudice from the reassignment.
The facts of this case are detailed in Izzi v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 654 A.2d 176 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1995). In short, Izzi filed a claim petition alleging that he was totally disabled as a result of an injury which occurred while he was working for Century Graphics, Inc. (Employer) on May 27, 1988. The matter was originally assigned to Referee Inez G. Lundy who heard testimony from Izzi, from one of Izzi's co-workers and from Employer's president. Izzi presented deposition testimony from three expert medical witnesses, and Employer presented deposition testimony from two expert medical witnesses. Before Referee Lundy rendered a decision, the Board notified the parties that the case was being transferred to Referee Irvin Stander and that counsel could respond to the notice if there was an objection. Izzi did not object to the transfer of the case to Referee Stander. Thereafter, the Board reassigned the case to Referee Hamer without notifying the parties, and the referee issued a decision in favor of Employer.
The Board affirmed Referee Hamer's decision. Izzi filed a petition for reconsideration based on the Board's failure to consider his argument that he was not afforded notice or an opportunity to object to the reassignment of his case to Referee Hamer. The Board stated that it had considered this argument without comment and denied Izzi's petition for reconsideration. On appeal, this Court concluded that the Board abused its discretion in refusing to afford Izzi an opportunity for a hearing to present the basis for his objections to the reassignment to Referee Hamer and in making no findings or analysis regarding whether Izzi was prejudiced by the reassignment.
On remand, Izzi argued that he was prejudiced by the reassignment because Referee Hamer is less experienced than Referee Stander and because the Referee who hears the witnesses must decide the case. The Board recognized that it had erred in failing to afford Izzi an opportunity to object to the reassignment, but the Board concluded that neither reason supplied by Izzi to establish prejudice had merit, and the Board again denied reconsideration. The Board has broad discretion to grant or deny rehearing, and its decision will be reversed only when the Board has abused that discretion. Izzi.
Izzi first argues that constitutional principles of due process require that workers' compensation cases be decided by the workers' compensation judge who was present to receive the testimony. Izzi claims entitlement to due process protection by virtue of an asserted property interest in his workers' compensation claim and a property interest in his right to wage loss benefits. In this connection, Izzi argues the unconstitutionality of Section 415 of the Workers' Compensation Act (Act), Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, as amended, 77 P.S. ยง851. That section authorizes the Department of Labor and Industry to reassign a workers' compensation case to a different workers' compensation
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