Brennan v. Young

217 N.E.2d 247, 6 Ohio App. 2d 175, 35 Ohio Op. 2d 342, 1966 Ohio App. LEXIS 470
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 1, 1966
Docket1307
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 217 N.E.2d 247 (Brennan v. Young) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brennan v. Young, 217 N.E.2d 247, 6 Ohio App. 2d 175, 35 Ohio Op. 2d 342, 1966 Ohio App. LEXIS 470 (Ohio Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

Middleton, J.

This is an appeal on questions of law by the Administrator of the Bureau of Workmen’s Compensation from a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas finding that the plaintiff is entitled to continue to participate in the State Insurance Fund. In the court below the plaintiff appealed from *176 an order of tlie Industrial Commission denying plaintiff’s right to continue to participate in the State Insurance Fund. Plaintiff was injured on September 21, 1961, while engaged in wrecking a building in Allen County, and, while so working attempting to pry down a wall, a 2 x 4 sprung loose from the wall striking plaintiff on the head and knocking Mm to the floor. At the time the plaintiff was employed by the defendant Donald Gray, doing business as Gray Construction Company.

Within time plaintiff filed an application for compensation with the administrator pursuant to Sections 4123.511 through 4123.515, Revised Code. The administrator caused an investigation to be made and, on August 1,1962, entered the following orders:

“It is ordered the claim be allowed it being the administrator’s finding that employer herein was amenable to but had not complied with the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Law on September 21,1961; That on said date claimant was en [sic] employee of named employer and sustained injuries described as large laceration on top of head while in the course of and arising out of employment for instant employer.”

From this order no appeal was taken by the employer or the commission, or was an application for reconsideration filed. Subsequently plaintiff filed an application for the determination of the percentage of permanent partial disability pursuant to Section 4123.57, Revised Code. Upon hearing of this application the Industrial Commission entered the following order on January 9, 1963:

“That the commission find that the claimant does not have any percentage of permanent partial disability and there is •therefore no basis for an award for this type of disability; that the C-92 filed August 31, 1962 be granted to this extent of the order.
“The commission further finds that claimant’s disabilities described as a generalized arthritic condition which is evident in both upper extremities and the lower extremities and probably in the spinal column is not the result of or related to the injuries recognized in this claim.”

From such order the plaintiff appellee prosecuted an appeal to the Court of Common Pleas. At the time of the trial in that court, on motion of the plaintiff aftejr the opening *177 statement of the defendant administrator, the issues of amenability of the employer, employment of the claimant, and validity of the original injury were removed from the consideration of the jury. The parties thereupon waived trial by jury, agreed to submit the case to trial by the court, and after hearing the court found for the plaintiff and entered judgment entitling the plaintiff to continue to participate in the State Insurance Fund. From this judgment the defendant administrator prosecutes his appeal to this court and claims error of the lower court in the following respects:

“1. The lower court erred in sustaining appellee’s motion to remove from the consideration of the jury the issues pertaining to the amenability of the employer and the employment status of appellee.
“2. The lower court erred in overruling the objection to the hypothetical question propounded to appellee’s expert witness.
“3. The lower court erred in rendering judgment for ap-pellee as said appellee had not sustained his burden of proof in that there was no competent medical evidence showing a probable direct causal relationship shown between the injury and the' disability in question.”

Plaintiff in his petition alleges in part that “Donald Gay, d. b. a. Gay Construction Company, was an employer of three or more employes [sic] in his business and was amenable to the. Workmen’s Compensation Act of Ohio and had totally failed to pay premiums into the State Insurance Fund, or qualify as a self-insurer and that while employed by Gay Construction Company he was injured; that plaintiff filed with the Industrial Commission and the administrator his claim for compensation, upon hearing the administrator on the 1st day of August, 1962, made the following order:

“ ‘It is ordered the claim be allowed it being the administrator’s finding that employer herein was amenable to but had not complied with the provision of the Workmen’s Compensation Law on September 21, 1961; That on said date claimant was en [sic] employee of named employer and sustained in-, juries described as large laceration on top of head while in the, .course of and arising put of employment for instant employer"

*178 To plaintiff’s petition the defendant filed an answer, which states in part:

“This answering defendant admits that plaintiff filed an. application for compensation (Claim No. 11357-27), npon which proceedings were had and orders entered as alleged.
“Farther answering, the defendant-administrator generally denies each and every allegation not herein specifically admitted to be trae.”

Section 4123.519, Revised Code, provides in part as follows:

“The claimant or the employer may appeal a decision of the Indnstrial Commission in any injnry case, other than a decision as to the extent of disability, to the Coart of Common Pleas of the county in which the injnry was inflicted or in which the contract of employment was made if the injnry occurred outside the state. # ⅜
í i ⅜ ⅝ *
“The claimant shall, within thirty days after the filing of the notice of appeal, file a petition setting forth the basis for the jurisdiction of the court over the action and setting forth the issues. * # *”

It is the contention of the defendant administrator that setting forth in the petition the averment that claimant was an employee of the named employer and amenable to the industrial Workmen’s Compensation Act becomes issues of fact requiring proof to support a judgment in claimant’s favor. With this we do not agree. There being no appeal taken by the employer or the commission or an application for reconsideration, the order of August 1, 1962, of the commissioner becomes final and, in the absence of fraud, cannot be relitigated and is not an issue on appeal to the Common Pleas Court.

The administrator is bound by admission in his answer . that the proceedings were had and order entered as alleged in plaintiff’s petition. The later denial of such findings is inconsistent with such admission, and, by reason thereof, the defendant is precluded from denying such findings and orders. .The inclusion of the administrator’s findings and orders in claimant’s petition sets forth the basis for the “jurisdiction of the court over the action ’ ’ as required by the Code, but they do not constitute any part of the issues presented to the court on appeal.

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Bluebook (online)
217 N.E.2d 247, 6 Ohio App. 2d 175, 35 Ohio Op. 2d 342, 1966 Ohio App. LEXIS 470, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brennan-v-young-ohioctapp-1966.