39 Pa. Commw. 609 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1979
•Opinion by
By letter dated January 5, 1978, petitioner, then a member of the' Pennsylvania State Police on full disability leave under the provisions of the Act of June 28, 1935, P.L. 477, as amended, 53 P.S. §637 (commonly known as the Heart and Lung Act), was
It is my hope that you will be able to do so ['answer questions] as soon as possible in order to preserve any rights which Trooper Callahan may have to appeal the determination under the Heart and Lung Act.
After some further correspondence, respondent wrote petitioner’s then legal counsel on January 24, 1978 answering questions raised by legal counsel’s letter of January 10, 1978. In that letter appeared the following statement:
I wish to again direct your attention to our letter of January 5, 1978, stating that -effective February 22, 1978 Trooper Callahan’s status will be changed from temporary to total disability.
On February 22, 1978 petitioner’s benefits under the Heart and Lung Act were terminated.
After a change of legal counsel, petitioner filed a petition for review in this Court on March 3, 1978. In this petition for review he alleges that the date of the adjudication of the action from which the appeal is taken to be February 22, 1978.
Respondents originally filed preliminary objections on the ground that this Court did not have' appellate jurisdiction for lack of an adjudication and, therefore, there could only be original jurisdiction. An order was entered directing that the matter “be regarded and acted upon as a Petition for Review addressed to this Court’s original jurisdiction.”
Whether the matter be considered as before us in our original jurisdiction or on appeal, the result would be the same. If .the letter of January 5, 1978 is an adjudication, and we hold that it is, then an appeal would be required within 30 days. See Section 502(a) of the Appellate Court Jurisdiction Act of 1970, Act of July 31, 1970, P.L. 673, as amended, 17 P.S. §211. 502(a).
There can be little doubt that there has been an adjudication requiring an appeal under Section 41 of the Administrative Agency Law, Act of June 4, 1945, P.L. 1388, as amended, formerly 71 P.S. §1710.41.
Accordingly, we will enter the following
Order
And Now, January 10,1979, the petition for review filed by Walter Callahan on March 3, 1978, is hereby quashed.
Now controlled by the Judicial Code (Code), 42 Pa. C.S. §5571.
Repealed by Section 2(a) of the Judiciary Act Repealer Act, Act’of April 28, 1978, P.L. 202, 42 P.S. §20002[1244] (now controlled by Section 5 of the Administrative Agency Law, 2 Pa. C.S. §702).