State ex rel. Owens-Illinois, Inc. v. Industrial Commission

575 N.E.2d 202, 61 Ohio St. 3d 456, 1991 Ohio LEXIS 1953
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 14, 1991
DocketNo. 90-600
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 575 N.E.2d 202 (State ex rel. Owens-Illinois, Inc. 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
State ex rel. Owens-Illinois, Inc. v. Industrial Commission, 575 N.E.2d 202, 61 Ohio St. 3d 456, 1991 Ohio LEXIS 1953 (Ohio 1991).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Appellant raises one issue: Does due process compel oral argument, if requested, at a hearing before the Industrial Commission, whenever new evidence is obtained? Upon review, we find that it does not.

Due process clearly entails an “opportunity to be heard.” Grannis v. Ordean (1914), 234 U.S. 385, 394, 34 S.Ct. 779, 783, 58 L.Ed. 1363, 1369. However, due process “guarantees no particular form of procedure; it protects substantial rights.” Natl. Labor Relations Bd. v. Mackay Radio & Tel. Co. (1938), 304 U.S. 333, 351, 58 S.Ct. 904, 913, 82 L.Ed. 1381, 1393; Inland Empire Dist. Council v. Millis (1945), 325 U.S. 697, 710, 65 S.Ct. 1316, 1323, 89 L.Ed. 1877, 1885, rehearing denied (1945), 326 U.S. 803, 66 S.Ct. 11, 90 L.Ed. 489. Appellant’s attempt to literally construe “hear” conflicts with other state and federal decisions.

Recently, in State, ex rel. Ormet Corp., v. Indus. Comm. (1990), 54 Ohio St.3d 102, 561 N.E.2d 920, we refused to construe “hear” literally, in reviewing the constitutionality of a permanent total disability order that had been voted on by a commissioner who had not attended the hearing. Quoting Morgan v. United States (1936), 298 U.S. 468, 481, 56 S.Ct. 906, 912, 80 L.Ed. 1288,1295, the employer argued that under due process, “the one who decides must hear.” Since the absentee commissioner had not done so, the employer claimed a due process violation.

We agreed that Morgan espoused a due process principle, but found that the commissioner’s absence, standing alone, did not offend due process. Ormet examined Morgan and the three decisions arising from it — (1938), 304 [458]*458U.S. 1, 58 S.Ct. 773, 82 L.Ed. 1129; (1939), 307 U.S. 183, 59 S.Ct. 795, 83 L.Ed. 1211; and (1941), 313 U.S. 409, 61 S.Ct. 999, 85 L.Ed. 1429 {Morgan II, III and IV) — and concluded that the United States Supreme Court did not intend such a narrow interpretation of “hear.” Instead, we held that a party had been sufficiently “heard” for due-process purposes when the decision maker “in some meaningful manner, considered] evidence obtained at [a] hearing.” (Emphasis sic.) Id., 54 Ohio St.3d at 107, 561 N.E.2d at 925. Thus, a commissioner’s review of a hearing transcript in lieu of live testimony satisfied a party’s right to be “heard.” Applying Ormet here, a party’s challenge to new evidence can, in some cases, be presented in writing, rather than verbally, without violating due process.

None of the cases appellant cites suggests that the right to be heard is satisfied only by oral presentation. The cases merely indicate that due process demands an opportunity to rebut the evidence presented. See Bowman Transp., Inc. v. Arkansas Best Freight System, Inc. (1974), 419 U.S. 281, 95 S.Ct. 438, 42 L.Ed.2d 447; State, ex rel. Canter, v. Indus. Comm. (1986), 28 Ohio St.3d 377, 28 OBR 437, 504 N.E.2d 26; State, ex rel. Chrysler Plastic Products Corp., v. Indus. Comm. (1987), 39 Ohio App.3d 15, 528 N.E.2d 1279; and State, ex rel. Ormet Corp., v. Indus. Comm. (Sept. 26, 1989), Franklin App. No. 87AP-1187, unreported, 1989 WL 110997 (and distinct from the Ormet decision cited earlier). None of the cases states that a party has a right to make that rebuttal at an oral hearing.

Appellant ignores the Unites States Supreme Court’s decision in Federal Communications Comm. v. WJR (1949), 337 U.S. 265, 69 S.Ct. 1097, 93 L.Ed. 1353. In WJR, the FCC licensed a North Carolina radio station on the same broadcasting frequency as WJR’s, without notice to WJR and without hearing. WJR then petitioned for “reconsideration and hearing.” Id. at 268, 69 S.Ct. at 1100, 93 L.Ed. at 1356. The FCC denied WJR’s petition in a written opinion without prior oral argument. WJR alleged that the FCC’s reconsideration denial without hearing violated its due process rights. A United States court of appeals agreed.

The United States Supreme Court characterized “the important question presented” as “the extent to which due process of law, as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, requires federal administrative tribunals to accord the right of oral argument to one claiming to be adversely affected by their action, more particularly upon questions of law.” Id. at 267, 69 S.Ct. at 1099, 93 L.Ed. at 1356.

The Supreme Court interpreted the lower court’s opinion as being grounded on the premise that:

[459]*459“ * * * [S]uch an opportunity is an inherent element of procedural due process and all judicial or quasi-judicial, i.e., administrative determinations of questions of law, outside of such questions as may arise upon interlocutory matters involving stays pendente lite, temporary injunctions and the like.” Id. at 273, 69 S.Ct. at 1102, 93 L.Ed. at 1359.

The Supreme Court reversed the lower court, writing:

“Taken at its literal and explicit import, the [appellate] Court’s broad constitutional ruling cannot be sustained. So taken, it would require oral argument upon every question of law, apart from the excluded interlocutory matters, arising in the administrative proceedings of every sort. This would be regardless of whether the legal question were substantial or insubstantial; of the substantive nature of the asserted right or interest involved * * *.
“We do not stop to consider the effects of such a ruling, if accepted upon the work of the vast and varied administrative as well as judicial tribunals of the federal system * * *. It is enough to say that due process of law, as conceived by the Fifth Amendment, has never been cast in so rigid and all-inclusive confinement.” Id. at 274-275, 69 S.Ct. at 1103, 93 L.Ed. at 1360.

The WJR majority stressed:

“ * * * [D]ue process of law has never been a term of fixed and invariable content. This is as true with reference to oral argument as with respect to other elements of procedural due process. For this Court has held in some situations that such argument is essential to a fair hearing * * *, in others that argument submitted in writing is sufficient. * * * ” (Citations omitted.) Id. at 275-276, 69 S.Ct. at 1103, 93 L.Ed. at 1360.

Finally, the court concluded:

“ * * * [T]he right of oral argument as a matter of procedural due process varies from case to case in accordance with differing circumstances * * *.

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Bluebook (online)
575 N.E.2d 202, 61 Ohio St. 3d 456, 1991 Ohio LEXIS 1953, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-owens-illinois-inc-v-industrial-commission-ohio-1991.