607 N.E.2d 904 | Ohio Ct. App. | 1992
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On September 14, 1989, Alcorn requested an additional allowance from the same injury for a "herniated cervical disc." She also requested temporary total disability benefits beginning on February 22, 1988 and payment of related medical bills.
Alcorn's claim for an additional condition was referred for hearing by a district hearing officer. The district hearing officer, by decision filed October 11, 1989, allowed the additional condition and found that Alcorn was temporarily totally disabled by reason of the condition from February 22, 1988 through March 1, 1989. He ordered payment of benefits for that term, to continue upon submission of proper medical proof.
Spalding appealed the decision of the district hearing officer. The decision was reviewed by the Dayton Regional Board of Review, which agreed with the district hearing officer that Alcorn was totally disabled as a result of the condition. However, the board found that the disability was permanent, not temporary as the district hearing officer had found. The board therefore modified the order of the district hearing officer to provide that Alcorn's condition would be one of permanent disability on June 6, 1990.
Alcorn appealed to the Industrial Commission. Spalding did not appeal. The Industrial Commission vacated the order of the regional board of review and reinstated the order of the district hearing officer.
Spalding appealed to the court of common pleas pursuant to R.C.
Spalding has filed a timely notice of appeal from the order of the common pleas court.
"The trial court erred when it dismissed the defendant-appellant, Spalding Evenflo Corporation's R.C. section
"The trial court erred when it ruled that a party to a workers' compensation decision is permitted to administratively appeal limited portions of that decision under R.C. section
The workers' compensation system was established in Section
In furtherance of these purposes, a worker whose employer has subscribed for workers' compensation coverage may file a claim with the Industrial Commission if the employee believes he has suffered a work-related injury. If, after investigation, the Administrator of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation determines the claim is valid, compensation is paid. R.C.
The district hearing officer hears the parties interested in the disputed claim and the grounds alleged. He then issues a decision on the claim and dispute and his reasons therefor. If the district hearing officer finds the claim has merit, he orders compensation paid. If he decides the claim lacks merit, he orders no compensation. In either case, the decision of the district hearing officer is subject to appeal pursuant to R.C.
"A claimant, an employer, or the administrator of the bureau of workers' compensation who is dissatisfied with a decision of the district hearing officer may appeal therefrom by filing a notice of appeal with the bureau, with a regional board of review, or with the industrial commission, within twenty days after the date of receipt of notice of the decision of the district hearing officer."
The Industrial Commission may, in its discretion, hear an R.C.
The decision of the Industrial Commission may be appealed to the common pleas court by the claimant or the employer, pursuant to R.C.
In this case the employer, Spalding, filed a notice of appeal to the common pleas court from the decision of the Industrial Commission. Alcorn, the employee, filed a petition alleging her industrial claim and its causes. However, she also argued that the court lacked jurisdiction because Spalding had failed to preserve an issue for appeal, relying on Lamb v. Sugar CreekPacking, Co., supra. The trial court, while critical of the rule of Lamb, followed that precedent and dismissed.
Lamb presented facts virtually identical to those before us now. The claimant's right to participate in the fund had not been disputed at any administrative level. The order of the Industrial Commission from which appeal was taken had only reversed the regional board of review concerning extent of disability and reinstated the order of the district hearing officer on the issue. Reasoning that the issues appealable to the court of common pleas could concern only the issues decided by the Industrial Commission, in that case the "extent of disability," an issue over which the court has no jurisdiction, we affirmed the trial court's dismissal of the employer's appeal.
The common pleas court below applied the rule of Lamb, but was critical of its analysis. In particular, the court discussed several more recent decisions of the Court of Appeals for Franklin County, reaching a contrary result; State ex rel.Gibson v. Indus. Comm. (Feb. 24, 1987), Franklin App. No. 85AP-667, unreported, 1987 WL 7102, and United Parcel Serv., Inc.v. Indus. Comm. (Dec. 11, 1990), Franklin App. No. 90AP-321, unreported, 1990 WL 204717. The same rule was followed in both;
"R.C.
We believe that the issues raised by those decisions, as well as the review of the issue by the common pleas court below, support a re-examination of our decision in Lamb.
The issues presented to the court of common pleas pursuant to an R.C.
Our decision in Lamb likened, if only inferentially, the review performed by the Industrial Commission in an R.C.
We now conclude that our prior holding in Lamb was in error. R.C.
For the foregoing reasons we hold that the common pleas court has jurisdiction to hear and determine the timely appeal by either the claimant or the employer from the decision of the Industrial Commission finding for or against the claimant's right to participate in the Workers' Compensation Fund, despite the fact that the party or parties filing a notice of appeal pursuant to R.C.
Judgment reversedand cause remanded.
WILSON and WOLFF, JJ., concur.