Torres-Williams v. UCBR - Cmwlth. Court - December 4, 2008 - unreported memorandum decision
http://origin-www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/Cwealth/out/910CD08_12-4-08.pdf
The court rejected the Board's attempt to quash or strike the petition for review based on claims that (1) the petition does not seek to challenge the basis of the Board’s decision, i.e., Claimant’s conduct constitutes willful misconduct, and (2) the petition for review does not seek to challenge matters over which this Court can exercise its powers of review, i.e., the Board’s factual findings, legal errors or constitutional violations.
The court said that it "has recently indicated that we may 'decline to consider issues a claimant fails to raise with sufficient specificity in his petition for review.” Pearson v. UCBR, 954 A.2d 1260, 1263 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2008). We have also dismissed a claimant’s petition for review where the claimant only asserted vague issues of error on the part of the Board or simply asserted that the Board’s decision was not supported by substantial evidence. See Deal v. UCBR, 878 A.2d 131 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2005).
A claimant must submit a statement in his or her petition for review that is more substantial than merely a recitation of our standard of review. Admittedly, the grounds for reversal as stated by Claimant in her petition for review are somewhat lacking. However, Claimant does allege in her petition that she is challenging the Board’s decision based upon “minimum grounds of evidence.” We interpret this statement as a challenge to the Board’s findings and its conclusion that Employer met its burden of establishing willful misconduct. Claimant’s argument herein is similar to the arguments raised by the claimant in Pearson, who alleged that the Board had failed to “review all the facts” and that “this case is not strong enough,” which we interpreted as a challenge to the employer’s burden of proof and which we relied upon in rejecting the application of the waiver doctrine. Pearson, 954 A.2d at 1263.12
