Gary R. Rowland v. Livonia Volkswagen

On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal is considered, and, pursuant to MCR 7.302(F)(1), in lieu of granting leave to appeal, we VACATE the orders of the Workers' Compensation Appellate Commission dated August 31, 1994 and November 4, 1994, and we REMAND the case to the Commission for further proceedings. Nothing in the Commission's certified record contradicts the plaintiff's contention that not all of the hearing transcripts were filed even though plaintiff's attorney made timely and reasonable efforts to accomplish the filing. In the circumstances, the time for filing the plaintiff's brief on appeal to the Commission should not have begun to run. The 30 days allowed for filing the brief begins ""after filing the transcript"". MCL 418.861a(5); MSA 17.237(861a)(5). In this case, it appears that ""the transcript"" was not filed. Exceptional circumstances may require other interpretations of the statute, but no such circumstances are apparent in this record. On remand, the Commission shall conduct whatever further proceedings it deems necessary to determine all of the facts surrounding the ordering and filing of the hearing transcripts. The Commission then shall apply MCL 418.861a(5); MSA 17.237(861a)(5) to those facts.