Section 131.66. Admissibility of oral depositions

(a) Oral depositions taken in accordance with § § 131.62—131.65 or upon waiver of the formal requirements of those sections by agreement of all parties, will be admissible at the time of hearing or by mail if allowed by the judge in the same manner as if the deponent appeared before the judge and testified.

(b) Objections shall be made and the basis for the objections stated at the time of the taking of the depositions. Only objections which are identified in a separate writing, introduced prior to the close of the evidentiary record, as close of the record is specified in § 131.101(c)—(e) (relating to briefs, findings of fact and close of record), and stating the specific nature of the objections and the pages where they appear in the deposition or the exhibits to which they refer will be preserved for ruling. Objections not so preserved are waived.

(c) Subsections (a) and (b) supersede 1 Pa. Code § § 35.126, 35.151, 35.161 and 35.162.

The provisions of this § 131.66 adopted November 6, 1981, effective November 7, 1981, 11 Pa.B. 4015; amended March 29, 1991, effective March 30, 1991, 21 Pa.B. 1401; amended December 6, 2002, effective December 7, 2002, 32 Pa.B. 6043; amended October 16, 2009, effective October 17, 2009, 39 Pa.B. 6038. Immediately preceding text appears at serial page (337251) to (337252).

Notation

Authority

The provisions of this § 131.66 amended under sections 401.1 and 435(a) and (c) of the Workers’ Compensation Act (77 P. S. § § 710 and 991(a) and (c)); section 2205 of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. § 565); and section 414 of The Pennsylvania Occupational Disease Act (77 P. S. § 1514).

Notes of Decisions

Long Distance Travel

Under workers’ compensation law, a Workers’ Compensation Judge may order the payment of travel expenses to attorneys who attend depositions more than 100 miles from where a workers’ compensation hearing may be scheduled; by analogy, the Commonwealth Court concludes that, as a matter of law, travel exceeding 100 miles one way for medical treatment is ‘‘long distance’’ travel, not ‘‘local’’ travel; to hold otherwise would penalize claimants who reside in remote areas and who must routinely travel great distances for medical treatment. Holly v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Lutheran Home), 735 A.2d 153 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1999); appeal denied 751 A.2d 194 (Pa. 2000).

Objections

Employer’s objection to physiatrist’s testimony that Claimant’s depression was caused by her work injury was not preserved because it was not specific, it was waived on appeal. Marriott Corp. v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Boarrd (Knechtel), 837 A.2d 623, 630-631 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2003).

The Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board’s order terminating compensation benefits is reversed where employer’s hearsay evidence of medical report was not corroborated by other competent evidence such as live testimony or the deposition of the medical expert, even though the report was admitted without objection and claimant failed to appear at the hearing. Tynan v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 639 A.2d 856 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1994); appeal denied 653 A.2d 1236 (Pa. 1994).

The referee did not commit reversible error by failing to rule on objections which were not identified in a separate writing. Yezovich v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 601 A.2d 1341 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1992).

Objections not properly preserved are waived. Stech v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 678 A.2d 1243 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1996); appeal denied 698 A.2d 69 (Pa. 1997).

When counsel for both the claimant and employer agreed that objections would be raised during the deposition of the claimant’s expert or waived, the referee properly sustained objections raised during cross-examination of the witness at the time of the hearing which were not previously expressed. Pioneer Machine and Tool Co. v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 602 A.2d 442 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1991).