State ex rel. Marmaduke v. Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund (Slip Opinion), 2016 Ohio 5550

Robert G. Marmaduke II, a retired Akron fire department captain/inspector, suffered a duty-related right temporal intracerebral hemorrhage in 2009 that caused decreased coordination, impaired fine motor skills in his left hand, and a left visual-field defect; he underwent surgery and rehabilitation.
He returned to work in a light-duty/transitional assignment but never demonstrably resumed his original duties as fire chief; he retired in November 2011.
Marmaduke applied to the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund (OP&F) for disability benefits in April 2012. The OP&F Disability Evaluation Panel (DEP) and board physicians/vocational experts found impairments but recommended a permanent-partial disability benefit.
Marmaduke appealed to the OP&F board arguing his visual-field loss made him permanently totally disabled; the board reaffirmed the permanent-partial award.
Marmaduke filed a mandamus action in the Tenth District Court of Appeals to compel OP&F to award permanent-total disability; the court denied relief because some evidence supported the board’s decision. The Ohio Supreme Court affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Marmaduke is entitled to a permanent-total disability benefit rather than permanent-partial	Marmaduke: his visual-field defect (and other deficits) makes him unable to perform any gainful occupation for which he is reasonably fitted, so he is totally disabled	OP&F: record shows Marmaduke performed light-duty work and DEP/vocational experts found he retains capacity for gainful employment; total disability not shown	Court: affirmed—some evidence supports OP&F’s finding of permanent-partial disability, not permanent-total
Whether the OP&F board abused its discretion in awarding permanent-partial benefits	Marmaduke: board’s decision was unsupported and thus arbitrary	OP&F: decision was supported by medical/vocational reports and statutory standard	Held: no abuse of discretion; mandamus not warranted

State ex rel. Waters v. Spaeth, 131 Ohio St.3d 55 (2012) (mandamus standard and burden to show entitlement by clear and convincing evidence)
State ex rel. Kolcinko v. Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, 131 Ohio St.3d 111 (2012) (mandamus available to correct OP&F abuse of discretion; board decision must be supported by some evidence)
State ex rel. Tindira v. Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, 130 Ohio St.3d 62 (2011) (mandamus as remedy for final OP&F decisions)
Kinsey v. Bd. of Trustees of Police & Firemen’s Disability & Pension Fund of Ohio, 49 Ohio St.3d 224 (1990) (some-evidence standard for reviewing fund decisions)
State ex rel. Manley v. Walsh, 142 Ohio St.3d 384 (2014) (factors for granting oral argument)
Appenzeller v. Miller, 136 Ohio St.3d 378 (2013) (same)