# Vann v. Commonwealth, Unemployment Compensation Board of Review

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · June 28, 1985 · 508 Pa. 139

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6263286

## Case

- **Full name:** Raybelle VANN v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BOARD OF REVIEW
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** June 28, 1985
- **Citations:** 508 Pa. 139; 494 A.2d 1081; 1985 Pa. LEXIS 391
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Hutchinson
- **Judges:** Flaherty, Hutchinson, Larsen, McDermott, Nix, Papadakos, Zappala
- **Cited by:** 90 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6263286

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- stating that “any layperson choosing to represent himself in a legal proceeding must, to some reasonable extent, assume the risk that his lack of expertise and legal training will prove his undoing”
- stating that a layperson who represents himself in legal matters must, to an extent, “assume the risk that his lack of expertise and legal training will prove his undoing”

## Opinion text

HUTCHINSON, Justice,
dissenting.
I concur with that portion of the majority opinion which sets forth the limits on a referee’s duty to advise an unemployment compensation claimant at a hearing. I would, however, not disturb the referee’s finding of fact affirmed by the board, which is based on the reasonable inference that the adult son of the principal shareholder of a closely held corporation operating a restaurant had authority in the course of his employment by that corporation to direct and give reasonable instructions to a short order cook. I, therefore, dissent.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6263286. Public record. Not legal advice.