Slatmeyer v. Industrial Commission

155 N.E. 484, 115 Ohio St. 654, 115 Ohio St. (N.S.) 654, 4 Ohio Law. Abs. 381, 1926 Ohio LEXIS 292
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJune 8, 1926
Docket19227
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 155 N.E. 484 (Slatmeyer v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Slatmeyer v. Industrial Commission, 155 N.E. 484, 115 Ohio St. 654, 115 Ohio St. (N.S.) 654, 4 Ohio Law. Abs. 381, 1926 Ohio LEXIS 292 (Ohio 1926).

Opinions

Jones, J.

Slatmeyer filed his petition in error in this court, asking for the vacation of an order made by the Industrial Commission, wherein it determined that one of his employes met his death because of the violation by plaintiff in error of a specific requirement; and wherein, because of that determination, it granted an additional award of compensation in an amount equal to 50 per cent, of the original compensable award. To this petition in error the Industrial Commission filed a general demurrer. The cause was submitted to this court upon that demurrer.

The demurrer interposed to the petition in error herein requires the interpretation of Section 35, Article II, of the Ohio Constitution, as amended in 1923, respecting the finality of the Industrial Com *656 mission’s decision relating to compliance with specific requirements. So much of the amended constitutional section as is germane thereto reads as follows:

“Such hoard shall have full power and authority to hear and determine whether or not an injury, disease or death resulted because of the failure of the employer to comply with any specific requirement for the protection of the lives, health or safety of employes, enacted by the General Assembly or in the form of an order adopted by such board, and its decision shall be final. ’ ’

The paramount question to be determined by this court is: To what extent is the commission’s decision final respecting specific requirements, and does that finality of decision extend to both questions of fact and questions of law?

The language of the amendment is the pole-star of this interpretation. Under it the commission has been given full power and authority “to hear and determine whether or not an injury, disease or death resulted because of the failure of the employer to comply with any specific requirement.” We are of the unanimous opinion that upon that question of fact the decision of the commission is final; but its'finality extends only to the determination whether, in fact, the injury, etc., resulted because of the failure to comply with such specific requirement. The state having created, under its Constitution, a board of awards for the determination of that question of fact, there is no violation of the due process clause in failing to provide - a judicial review upon that specific feature. The *657 Constitution has committed that question to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Industrial Commission, sitting as a board of awards.

Does the finality of the commission’s decisions extend to questions of law, arising in a proceeding where an additional award is imposed for failure to comply with such specific requirement? In this respect this court holds that it does not. The language of the Constitution is plain. The commitment of finality extends only to the single question of fact to be heard and determined. While the constitutional amendment may have contemplated that the industrial tribunal could dispose of a question of fact as well as a court constituted for that purpose, it no doubt recognized that upon legal, fundamental, or jurisdictional questions, action by a court would be necessary. At all events, no legal questions were committed by the Constitution to the final jurisdiction of the commission. If the original award as well as the added per centum were both attacked by the employer, there is no doubt that the employer would have the right to prove that the employe was not an employe, and that he was not injured at all, or, if injured, that it was by self-infliction, or that the injury did not arise within the course of his employment; and, if successful in either, the basis of the employe’s claim having failed, naturally the added per centum could not be imposed. However, if there was no attack by the employer upon the original award, but the attack was confined solely to the imposition of the added per centum, the constitutional amendment does not *658 deny the right of the employer to question the added award upon jurisdictional, legal, or constitutional grounds. If the added per centum were imposed where no specific requirement was “enacted by the General Assembly or in the form of an order adopted by such board,” manifestly the commission’s finding of failure to comply would be illegal; or if in any manner the jurisdiction of the commission in respect to a specific requirement were attacked, that as well as other legal questions would still remain within the jurisdiction of the courts for the purpose of review, and a denial of judicial process in those respects would be a denial of due process.

A question of procedure, however, is presented by the record. The plaintiff in error in his petition in error has invoked the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Section 871-38, General Code, in a case attacking solely the imposition of the added per centum of 50 per cent, upon the award originally made. This court has heretofore held in several cases that an action brought for the purpose of reviewing awards made under the Workmen’s Compensation Act cannot be brought under Section 871-38, General Code. The imposition of the added 50 per cent, is an award just as much as is the original award. The Constitution refers to the added per centum as an “additional award.” It follows, therefore, that, both being denominated awards by the constitutional amendment, the former decisions of this court require that under the Workmen’s Compensation Act fundamental, legal, or constitutional features challeng *659 ing the right to recover the additional award or per centum can be tried in a suit brought for its recovery, wherein the question of fact, the finality of which has been committed by the recent amendment to the commission for determination, is excluded.

In the case of Pittsburg Coal Co. v. Indus. Comm., 108 Ohio St., 185, 140 N. E., 684, following our previous decisions, this court held that an award cannot be reviewed under Section 871-38, General Code, but that the employer has an adequate remedy under Section 27 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act (Section 1465-74, General Code), when sued for the compensation or award fixed by the board, whereby any fundamental, legal, or basic questions may be determined, and whereby the employer “may contest all jurisdictional facts necessary to be determined by the commission before making an award for compensation.” This decision was based upon the Fassig and Gatton cases previously decided by this court, which cases are referred to in the Pittsburg Coal Co. case.

Five months later, in a case where the employer was sued for the amount of an award, together with an added 50 per cent, penalty, this court fully sanctioned the remedy employed in the Pittsburg Coal Co. case, supra, and determined the constitutional validity whereby the penalty was imposed. De Witt v. State ex rel. Crabbe, Atty. Gen., 108 Ohio St., 513, 141 N. E., 551.

It is sought to invoke the case of Clemmer & Johnson Co. v. Indus. Comm., 112 Ohio St., 421, 147 N. E., 518, as an authority for bringing this cause *660

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Bluebook (online)
155 N.E. 484, 115 Ohio St. 654, 115 Ohio St. (N.S.) 654, 4 Ohio Law. Abs. 381, 1926 Ohio LEXIS 292, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/slatmeyer-v-industrial-commission-ohio-1926.