State ex rel. Black v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc.

2015 Ohio 4868
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 24, 2015
Docket15AP-120
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2015 Ohio 4868 (State ex rel. Black v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc.) 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
State ex rel. Black v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc., 2015 Ohio 4868 (Ohio Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

[Cite as State ex rel. Black v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc.,, 2015-Ohio-4868.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

TENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

[State ex rel.] Sharon Black, :

Relator, :

v. : No. 15AP-120

CVS Pharmacy, Inc., Revco, D.S., Inc. : (REGULAR CALENDAR) and Industrial Commission of Ohio, : Respondents. :

D E C I S I O N

Rendered on November 24, 2015

Michael J. Muldoon, for relator.

Thomas & Company, L.P.A., and William R. Thomas, for respondent CVS Pharmacy, Inc., Revco, D.S., Inc.

Michael DeWine, Attorney General, and Stephen D. Playmale, for respondent Industrial Commission of Ohio.

IN MANDAMUS ON OBJECTIONS TO MAGISTRATE'S DECISION

DORRIAN, J. {¶ 1} In this original action, relator, Sharon Black ("relator"), requests a writ of mandamus ordering respondent Industrial Commission of Ohio ("commission") to vacate its order exercising its continuing jurisdiction and finding that her claim should not be allowed for a disc herniation at T12-L1 when she had already filed a notice of appeal from the disallowance of other conditions, pursuant to R.C. 4123.512, and ordering the commission to reinstate its order allowing her claim for disc herniation at T12-L1. {¶ 2} Pursuant to Civ.R. 53(D) and Loc.R. 13(M) of the Tenth District Court of Appeals, this matter was referred to a magistrate who issued a decision, including findings No. 15AP-120 2

of fact and conclusions of law, which is appended hereto. The magistrate concluded that relator has an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law by way of appeal to the common pleas court and, as such, is not entitled to a writ of mandamus. Accordingly, the magistrate recommended that this court deny the requested writ of mandamus. {¶ 3} No objections have been filed to the magistrate's findings of fact. After an independent review of the same, we adopt those findings of fact as our own. Relator objects to the magistrate's conclusion that she has an adequate remedy of law by way of an appeal to the common pleas court and argues that mandamus is the appropriate remedy pursuant to the Supreme Court of Ohio precedent in State ex rel. Saunders v. Metal Container Corp., 52 Ohio St.3d 85 (1990). Relator argues that, because she had already appealed the disallowance of other claims to the common pleas court, the commission did not have jurisdiction to invoke its continuing jurisdiction to deny her claim for disc herniation at T12-L1. {¶ 4} In Saunders, the commission's district hearing officer ("DHO") issued an order allowing a condition described as "back." At the time, R.C. 4121.36(B) required the order allowing a condition to contain a "description of the part of the body and nature of the disability recognized in the claim." The commission subsequently attempted to correct the error by amending the part of the body affected from "back" to "lumbosacral" and "lumbar spine." {¶ 5} The Supreme Court noted that a statutorily defective allowance, such as the one issued by the DHO, constituted a "mistake," which permitted the commission, pursuant to R.C. 4123.52, to invoke its continuing jurisdiction to correct. It held, however, that the commission could have simply amended the allowed condition to reflect "back sprain," but, instead, the commission went too far in narrowing the named body part from "back" to "lumbosacral" and "lumbar spine." The Supreme Court held that, although the commission was permitted to invoke continuing jurisdiction to correct the mistake, the continuing jurisdiction did not allow the extent of the correction attempted here. {¶ 6} Relevant here, the Supreme Court in Saunders also held that mandamus was the proper remedy to address the commission's improper extension of continuing jurisdiction. The Supreme Court noted that "[t]he relevant question here is not one of No. 15AP-120 3

appellee's right to participate * * * for a 'back' injury but is instead whether a mistake sufficient to invoke the continuing jurisdiction provisions of R.C. 4123.52 existed. We find the latter question to be the proper subject matter for a writ of mandamus." Id. at 86. {¶ 7} Relator suggests that Saunders controls. We disagree. The question before us now is not whether a mistake sufficient to invoke the continuing jurisdiction provisions of R.C. 4123.52 existed. The crux of relator's argument here, however, is that the institution of an appeal of the disallowance of other claims, pursuant to R.C. 4123.519, deprived the commission of jurisdiction to even consider whether there was a mistake sufficient to invoke it's continuing jurisdiction, pursuant to R.C. 4123.52, regarding the disc herniation at T12-L1 claim. The issue here is a precursor to the issue of whether a mistake existed sufficient to invoke the continuing jurisdiction provisions of R.C. 4123.52. {¶ 8} Relator argues that the magistrate's reliance on State ex rel. Alhamarshah v. Indus. Comm., 142 Ohio St.3d 524, 2015-Ohio-1357, is misplaced. In Alhamarshah, the commission accepted documentation from the employer and determined that it substantially complied with the statutory requirements for a notice of an appeal of the Bureau of Worker's Compensation's initial allowance of a claim. The Supreme Court of Ohio noted that "[t]his decision conferred jurisdiction on the commission to proceed to consider the merits of the purported employer's appeal" and that such exercise of jurisdiction "resulted in a decision denying the claimant's right to participate in the worker's compensation system." The Supreme Court held that "[c]onsequently, the decision allowing the appeal to proceed was essential to the ultimate determination that denied the claimant's participation in the worker's compensation system. As such, the commission's decision to accept the appeal as valid was appealable pursuant to R.C. 4123.512." (Emphasis added.) Id. at ¶ 10-12. Likewise, here, the commission's decision to proceed, while the appeal of other disallowed claims was pending in the common pleas court, was essential to the ultimate determination that denied relator's participation in the workers' compensation system for the disc herniation at T12-L1. {¶ 9} We find the magistrate properly relied upon Alhamarshah, and, for the reasons stated above and in the magistrate's decision, we find no merit to relator's objections. {¶ 10} Accordingly, relator's objections to the magistrate's decision are overruled. No. 15AP-120 4

{¶ 11} Upon review of the magistrate's decision, an independent review of the record, and due consideration of relator's objections, we find that the magistrate has properly determined the pertinent facts and applied the appropriate law. We, therefore, overrule relator's objections to the magistrate's decision and adopt the magistrate's decision as our own, including the findings of fact and conclusions of law contained therein. Accordingly, the requested writ of mandamus is hereby denied. Objections overruled; writ denied. BROWN, P.J., and TYACK, J., concur. _________________ No. 15AP-120 5

APPENDIX IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

CVS Pharmacy, Inc., Revco, D.S., Inc. : (REGULAR CALENDAR) and Industrial Commission of Ohio, : Respondents. :

MAGISTRATE'S DECISION

Rendered on August 20, 2015

Thomas & Company, L.P.A., and William R. Thomas, for respondent CVS Pharmacy, Inc., Revco, D.S., Inc.

Michael DeWine, Attorney General, and Stephen D. Playmale, for respondent Industrial Commission of Ohio.

IN MANDAMUS

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2015 Ohio 4868, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-black-v-cvs-pharmacy-inc-ohioctapp-2015.