Wednesday, February 08, 2023

UC - willful misconduct - hearsay - corroborating evidence

Pierce-Boyce v. UCBR – Cmwlth. Court

 

Order directing opinion to be reported – 1-31-23 https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Commonwealth/out/725CD21ORD_1-31-23.pdf

 

Opinion – 11-16-22

https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Commonwealth/out/725CD21_1-31-23.pdf

 

 

Held: Claimant guilty of willful misconduct for speeding, as established by unobjected-to GPS report that was “corroborated” by Claimant’s own testimony as follows: “I don’t know about the GPS. I wasn’t aware of the GPS but if that’s what they are recording I’m not going to battle that because I don’t know.”

 

The court said that when asked if she contested the GPS report the claimant “conceded to its accuracy” in making the statement cited above.

 

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Editorial comment:  I hope that this decision gets appealed.  The claimant’s statement was ambiguous at best and should not be considered the kind of competent evidence that is necessary to corroborate hearsay evidence, under Walker v. UCBR, 367 A.2d 366 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1976) at its progeny.

 

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This summary also appears in the PLAN Legal Update, which can be accessed without a password.