You cannot later file a petition to review to recover litigation costs and attorney’s fees incurred in the successful dismissal of a prior suspension petition.

In its suspension petition, the employer alleged the claimant refused reasonable medical treatment. The Workers’ Compensation Judge granted this petition, which the claimant successfully appealed to the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board. Although the Board acknowledged the claimant’s request for attorney’s fees, it did not address that issue in its opinion, and neither the claimant nor the employer appealed the Board’s order. The claimant later filed a review petition to recover the litigation costs and attorney’s fees incurred in the prior litigation, which was denied by a different Workers’ Compensation Judge. The claimant appealed to the Board, which affirmed. On appeal to the Commonwealth Court, the claimant argued that he had no standing to appeal the Board’s order because he was not aggrieved by the Board’s decision. The Commonwealth Court disagreed and affirmed the Board’s decision. According to the court, although the claimant prevailed before the Board in his appeal of the suspension order, he only prevailed in part since the Board failed to address the request for costs and attorney’s fees. Consequently, the claimant was aggrieved, and his recourse was either to request reconsideration from the Board or file an appeal to the Commonwealth Court.

_{Case Law Alerts, 4^th Quarter, October 2016. Case Law Alerts is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2016 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}