Julia Ribaudo Senior Services v. DPW - Commonwealth Court - January 4, 2007
http://www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/CWealth/out/351CD06_1-4-07.pdf
Where an appeal must be filed within a specified time from the mailing date of a decision, the decision must contain a clearly specified mailing date. There is "no substitute for denominating the date of mailing so as to constitute the starting date for the appeal period. . . . A disembodied date on the notice. . .without any indication that it is the mailing date, is not sufficiently informative."
A date on a letter or a "date final administrative action," without more, are not sufficient. Likewise, testimony on department practice about mailing its decisions is "no substitute for a clearly designated mailing date," without which a notice does "not serve to begin the appeal period."
The following cases were cited in support of the decision: Sheets v. DPW, 479 A.2d 80 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1984); Schmidt v. Commonwealth, 433 A.2d 4546, 458 (Pa. 1981); Mihordin v. UCBR, 471 A.2d 1334, 1336 (1984); Nyhart v. Dept. of Corrections, 721 A.2d 391 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1998).
