Russitto v. Otis Steel Co.

12 Ohio App. 189, 31 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 377, 31 Ohio C.A. 377, 1919 Ohio App. LEXIS 161
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 28, 1919
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 12 Ohio App. 189 (Russitto v. Otis Steel Co.) 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
Russitto v. Otis Steel Co., 12 Ohio App. 189, 31 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 377, 31 Ohio C.A. 377, 1919 Ohio App. LEXIS 161 (Ohio Ct. App. 1919).

Opinion

Washburn, J.

The determining question in this case may be stated without the labor of detailing the facts. It is as follows:

A workman is injured and files his claim with the Industrial Commission, which claim is allowed, and paid until the commission determines that his earning capacity is no longer impaired and denies [190]*190him the right to further participate in the fund. Can he prosecute an appeal to the common pleas court from the order of the commission denying him the right to further participate in the fund, without alleging in his petition the grounds upon which such denial was made?

Such an appeal was attempted in this case, and, a demurrer to the petition being sustained, judgment was entered against the workman. The question here presented was not raised or argued in the case of Di Cicco v. The Industrial Commission of Ohio, 11 Ohio App., 271, decided by this court June 27, 1919. That case was tried upon an agreed statement of facts, and the only question presented or determined was the meaning of the term “earning capacity,” as used in the statute.

This record presents the question of the right to appeal when the grounds of the denial by the commission are not set forth in the petition. That right depends upon the provisions of Section 1465-90, General Code, as amended 107 Ohio Laws, 162, which is, in part, as follows:

“The commission shall have full power and authority to hear and determine all questions within its jurisdiction, and its decision thereon shall be final. Provided, however, in case the final action of such commission denies the right of the claimant to participate at all or to continue to participate in such fund on the ground that the injury was self-inflicted or on the ground that the accident did not arise in the course of employment, or upon any other ground going to the basis of the claimant’s right, then the claimant, within thirty (30) days after the notice of the final action of such commis[191]*191sion, may, by filing his appeal in the common pleas court of the county wherein the injury was inflicted, be entitled to a trial in the ordinary way, and be entitled to a jury if he demands it.”

A reading of this statute without reference to any changes made in it by amendment since its original enactment would lead to the natural conclusion that the right of a claimant to appeal, whether he had been denied the right to participate or the right to continue to participate in such fund, is granted only when the denial of such right is on the ground that the injury is self-inflicted, or on the ground that the accident did not arise in the course of employment, or upon some other ground going to the basis of the plaintiff’s right; in other words, if the commission determined that it had no jurisdiction because the claimant had no rights in the fund, then the right of appeal was granted, but if the commission determined' that the claimant had some rights in the fund, and made a bona fide award, then there was no appeal. This seems to be the plain meaning of the language used, and the only doubt about that being the proper construction is the fact that under that construction one who is denied the right to continue to participate seldom, if ever, could appeal, for the reason that it would seldom, if ever, happen that one who was denied the right to continue to participate would be denied that right on the grounds set forth.

The statute as it was first enacted is in all respects the same as quoted above, with the exception of the clause, “or to continue to participate,” so that the statute then g'ave the right to appeal only in case the commission denied the right of the [192]*192claimant to participate at all in the fund, and then only when the denial was upon the grounds stated, which, as has been said, was not changed by the amendment.

When the statute so read it came before the supreme court for construction in the case of Snyder v. State Liability Board of Awards et al., 94 Ohio St., 342, and it was there determined that “as a condition precedent to the right of claimant to file his appeal in the court of common pleas, there must be a denial of his right to participate at all in such fund, based upon one of the jurisdictional matters enumerated in the section.”

In the opinion the court say, at page 347:

“It is to be observed that the statute which confers the right of appeal does so upon condition that final action of the board denies the right of the claimant to participate at all in the fund, upon one of the grounds therein enumerated. This right of appeal proceeds upon the theory that there has been a finding by the board that it is without jurisdiction to act in the matter. If the board should find that the injury complained of was self-inflicted or that the injury did not arise in the course of employment, or that there was some other ground which went to the basis of claimant’s right, then the board, being without jurisdiction, must necessarily deny the right of claimant to participate. The claimant then under the proviso in the statute in question has his day in court, and it is expressly provided that after the appeal is perfected and the pleadings are filed the court or a jury under the instructions of the court, if a jury is demanded, shall determine the right of the claimant to par[193]*193ticipate in the fund. That is the first question to be determined by the court or jury. If it is determined adversely to the claimant, that is the end of the matter. If there is a finding in his favor then the court or jury goes further and fixes the compensation within the limits and under the rules prescribed by law, and the judgment so obtained shall be paid out of the insurance fund.”

This case authoritatively settled the construction which wTas to be placed upon this statute, when there was no attempt to confer the right of appeal upon a claimant who had been denied the right to continue to participate. After that decision the legislature inserted in the statute the words “or continue to participate.”

It may be conceded that the legislature, by so amending the law, intended to confer some sort of right of appeal upon a claimant who had been granted the right to participate, but later had been denied the right to continue to participate, but it provided that in order that such right of appeal might exist the denial of the commission had to be upon the same grounds as applied in the case where the commission denied the right to participate at all; that is, upon grounds which the supreme court had determined were jurisdictional matters.

The result is that the amendment either conferred the right of appeal upon a workman who is denied the right to continue to participate, but limited that right of appeal to cases where the denial was upon grounds that can seldom, if ever, exist, and therefore, for all practical purposes, conferred no right of appeal at all, or else it conferred the [194]*194right of appeal regardless of the ground upon which the commission’s denial is based. If we adopt this latter conclusion, then the result will be that the claimant whose right has been recognized, and thereafter his right to further continue to participate in the fund has been denied, may in all cases appeal to the common pleas court.

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Related

Dykes v. Industrial Commission
17 Ohio App. 384 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1924)

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Bluebook (online)
12 Ohio App. 189, 31 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 377, 31 Ohio C.A. 377, 1919 Ohio App. LEXIS 161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/russitto-v-otis-steel-co-ohioctapp-1919.