Stec v. Raymark Industries, Inc., 299 Conn. 346

Summary

The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that the twenty-day filing deadline under General Statutes § 31-301(a) for appealing a workers’ compensation commissioner’s decision is jurisdictional. An untimely appeal therefore deprives the Compensation Review Board of subject matter jurisdiction and cannot be waived by the parties. The court reversed the Appellate Court’s judgment and rejected reliance on Murphy v. Elms Hotel.

Holdings

1. The twenty-day limitation in § 31-301(a) is jurisdictional. An appeal from a workers' compensation commissioner's award or order filed more than twenty days after entry deprives the Compensation Review Board of subject matter jurisdiction, and the defect may be raised at any time, including sua sponte.
2. The Hartford had standing because it possessed a specific personal and legal interest in the commissioner's determination that it was not liable for the benefits, and the Appellate Court's judgment exposed that interest to a concrete possibility of adverse effect by permitting the Fund to relitigate Hartford's alleged liability.
3. The Fund's appeal was untimely because the twenty-day appeal period began with the October 3, 2005 finding and award, which established the lack of other coverage and made the Fund's potential liability clear; the October 25, 2006 payment order did not restart the appeal period.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the twenty-day appeal period in General Statutes § 31-301(a) is jurisdictional so that an appeal filed after that period deprives the Compensation Review Board of subject matter jurisdiction.
2. Whether The Hartford Insurance Group had standing to challenge the Fund's untimely appeal.
3. Whether the Fund's appeal was timely because its standing or liability matured only upon the commissioner's later order directing the Fund to pay benefits.
4. Whether the commissioner's later order constituted a new final judgment for purposes of appeal.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded