Pursuant to Section 410.202(a), a written request for appeal must be filed within 15 days of the date of receipt of the hearing officer’s decision. Section 410.202 was amended effective June 17, 2001, to exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays listed in Section 662.003 of the Texas Government Code from the computation of time in which to file an appeal. Section 410.202(d). Tex. W.C. Comm’n, 28 TEX. ADMIN. CODE § 143.3(e) (Rule 143.3(e)) provides that an appeal is presumed to have been timely filed if it is mailed not later than the 15th day after the date of receipt of the hearing officer’s decision and received by the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission (Commission) not later than the 20th day after the date of receipt of the hearing officer’s decision. See also Rule 102.5(d). Both portions of Rule 143.3(e) must be satisfied in order for an appeal to be timely. Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission Appeal No. 002806, decided January 17, 2001.
Records of the Commission indicated that the hearing officer’s decision was mailed to the claimant on May 26, 2005. Pursuant to Rule 102.5(d) and Rule 143.3(d)(1), unless the great weight of evidence indicates otherwise, the claimant was deemed to have received the hearing officer’s decision 5 days later, or on Thursday, May 31, 2005. The claimant acknowledges in her appeal that she received the hearing officer’s decision and order on May 31, 2005.
With the deemed date of receipt of May 31, 2005, in accordance with amended Section 410.202, the appeal needed to be filed or mailed no later than June 21, 2005. The claimant in her appeal acknowledges that the request for review must be filed by June 21, 2005. The request for review further recites that a copy was sent to the respondent’s (self-insured) attorney on June 20, 2005, and the self-insured, in a response, acknowledges receipt of the claimant’s appeal on June 21, 2005. However the claimant’s request for review was sent to the Commission by private courier (DHL) on an unknown date and was received by the Commission on July 19, 2005. Since there is no evidence that the claimant’s appeal was mailed or filed with the Commission on or before June 21, 2005, the appeal is untimely.
Having determined that the hearing officer’s decision and order have become final under Section 410.169 because a timely appeal was not filed with the Commission, the Appeals Panel does not have jurisdiction to review the hearing officer’s decision.
The true corporate name of the insurance carrier is a governmental entity that self-insures, either individually or collectively through the TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS RISK MANAGEMENT FUND and the name and address of its registered agent for service of process is
NAME
ADDRESS
CITY, TEXAS ZIP CODE.
Thomas A. Knapp
CONCUR:
Robert W. Potts – Appeals Judge
Margaret L. Turner – Appeals Judge