Claim of Felder v. City of New York Traffic Law Department

— Casey, J.

The employer contends that the Special Fund for Reopened Cases should be responsible for any award in this case, which *967was reopened more than three years after the case was closed and more than seven years after the date of the injury (see, Workers’ Compensation Law § 25-a). The Workers’ Compensation Board rejected this contention, affirming a hearing officer’s decision which discharged the Special Fund. There must be an affirmance.

In discharging the Special Fund, the Board concluded that a prior application to reopen, filed in August 1976 and denied by a Board decision filed in…