Rossa v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board

ARGUED: April 9, 2003 OPINION In this appeal we are asked to answer the following questions: does a Workers' Compensation Judge (WCJ) have the authority to determine paternity in a proceeding under the Workers' Compensation Act1 (Act) and, if so, what evidentiary standard must be met in order to prove paternity?2 For the reasons that follow, we hold that a WCJ does have the authority to determine paternity, not for all purposes, but for purposes of determining the eligibility of a child for benefits and that such eligibility must be established by a preponderance of the evidence. Because Appellee proved eligibility by a preponderance of the evidence and the Commonwealth Court granted the fatal claim petition on that basis, we affirm the order of the Commonwealth Court. We need not reach beyond the question of eligibility and, so, do not. On December 13, 1990, Patricia Ann Rossa (Rossa), age nineteen, gave birth to Ashley Lauren Rossa (Claimant). On February 6, 1991, Daniel R. Boyle (Decedent), a twenty-one-year-old Philadelphia police officer, died as the result of a gunshot wound to the head, sustained in the course and scope of his employment. The issue of paternity arose in the context of a fatal claim petition filed on March 20, 1992 by Rossa, on behalf of Claimant, in which she claimed that Decedent was Claimant's father. 3 The City of Philadelphia (Employer) denied that Claimant was Decedent's daughter and that she was eligible for fatal claim benefits.