State Ex Rel. Serafin v. Industrial Commission

179 N.E.2d 90, 113 Ohio App. 405, 17 Ohio Op. 2d 474, 1961 Ohio App. LEXIS 704
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 11, 1961
Docket6602
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 179 N.E.2d 90 (State Ex Rel. Serafin v. Industrial Commission) 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. Serafin v. Industrial Commission, 179 N.E.2d 90, 113 Ohio App. 405, 17 Ohio Op. 2d 474, 1961 Ohio App. LEXIS 704 (Ohio Ct. App. 1961).

Opinions

Bryant, J.

Lucille Serafín, relatrix herein, has brought an original action in this court seeking a writ of procedendo against the Industrial Commission of Ohio and James L. Young, Administrator of the Bureau of Workmen’s Compensation, respondents herein, to compel the commission to order Young to hear and determine relatrix’s application for additional compensation.

In her petition, relatrix alleges jurisdictional facts to show that she was, on January 5, 1953, an employee of Libby-Owens-Ford Glass Company at Rossford, Ohio, that the company fully complied with the workmen’s compensation law and that on said date, while in the course of her employment, she accidentally slipped on some ice, fell to the ground and severely injured the lower part of her back.

She alleges further that for the twelve days following the fall, she was totally disabled and for losses sustained, she applied for and was granted disability benefits; that she returned to work on January 17, 1953, and continued working for the ensuing 20% months until September 4, 1954, when the “conditions of her back became exacerbated” and she was off duty for three months receiving medical treatment; that she returned *407 to work on December 6, 1954, applied for and was given an allowance for medical expenses incurred.

She alleges further that after working between December 6, 1954, and February 2, 1955, the trouble in her back returned and she was placed in the hospital for study and treatment; that while in the hospital she suffered a nervous breakdown, the condition being diagnosed as “psychotic” and also as an “acute schizophrenic reaction * * * (back) injury, subsequent disability, necessary medical exams, etc., served as the precipitating events leading to the psychosis.”

She alleges further that she was disabled as a result of the nervous breakdown from February 26, 1955, to September 18, 1955, that she filed an applicatipn for disability benefits with the administrator under the original number, and that on April 30,1956, the administrator allowed the claim in an order which reads as follows:

“It is now ordered that instant claim be allowed for emotional breakdown in addition to back injury. That temporary total disability compensation be awarded from February 26, 1955, to September 18, 1955, both dates inclusive; that the medical bills be paid in accordance with the fee schedule. That the application for additional compensation beyond the date of last payment, filed October 24,1955, be granted to the extent of the above order. (Claimant was paid to February 25, 1955, inclusively.) ”

She alleges further that all the payments authorized by the above order were paid to her in full, and that on September 18, 1955, she returned to work for her employer.

She alleges further that her employer filed an appeal from the administrator’s order of April 30, 1956, that the company’s appeal to the Toledo Regional Board of Review and subsequently to the Industrial Commission, both were rejected, after which on June 19, 1958, the company filed a further appeal with the Common Pleas Court of Wood County, Ohio, and on the date her petition for a writ of procedendo was filed in this court, namely, October 13, 1960, the employer’s appeal to the Wood County Common Pleas Court “is presently pending hearing by said court.” (Elapsed time [1] in Common Pleas Court “pending hearing,” 2 years, 3 months, 24 days; [2] from date of *408 administrator’s order to court appeal, 2 years, 1 month and 10 days, or a total of nearly 4% years, while as this is being written, the total nears five years.)

She alleges further that on October 31, 1958, she suffered a “recurrence of the acute schizophrenic reaction,” which necessitated her confinement in the psychiatric ward of a hospital where the attending psychiatrist diagnosed her condition as “schizophrenic reaction, mixed type, recurrent, chronic, moderate, manifested by withdrawal, depression, confusion, delusions and auditory hallucinations. Industrial injury was the precipitating event in onset of the episode of schizophrenic illness.”

She alleges further that on April 13, 1959, she filed her application for disability benefits for the period beginning on and after October 31, 1958, with the administrator, that the matter came on for hearing, but that the administrator, on June 3,1959, disallowed the application and ordered it dismissed upon the ground that because of the appeal by the company from the order of April 30, 1956, to the Common Pleas Court, the administrator lacked jurisdiction to award additional compensation.

The administrator’s order disallowing and dismissing the application is as follows:

“It is now ordered that the application for additional compensation beyond the date of last payment, filed April 13, 1959, be disallowed and dismissed for the reason that the administrator has no jurisdiction to award additional compensation or benefits because of the disability therein alleged pending appeal now on file in the Common Pleas Court of Wood County, Ohio, from the previous allowance of a similar application for the same disability.”

She alleges further that she appealed this decision to the Toledo Regional Board of Review which denied her appeal and affirmed the decision of the administrator, and that she then appealed the decision to the Industrial Commission, which.on March 31, 1960, denied her appeal and affirmed the order of the regional board.

She concludes her petition by alleging that under Section 4123,519 of the Revised Code, the administrator lacks authority *409 to disclaim jurisdiction under the circumstances in this case, that the order made was illegal and without authority, and that because of the decisions above referred to, she is without authority to appeal to the Court of Common Pleas and is without any other remedy in the premises except for that sought in this court.

Counsel for the administrator and the Industrial Commission have filed a general demurrer to the petition “for the reason that it [the petition] does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action in procedendo,” and it is upon this general demurrer and the briefs of the parties that the matter comes on for consideration at this time.

It is not contended by counsel for respondents that relatrix has chosen the wrong remedy by filing a. proceeding in procedendo. On the contrary, counsel for respondents concede that if the contentions of relatrix with reference to the applicability of a recently amended provision of the workmen’s compensation law are correct and well-founded, ‘ ‘ * * # relatrix is entitled to her writ.”

Some light on the propriety of the use of a writ of procedendo in a case such as this may be obtained by an examination of the concurring opinion of Chief Justice Carrington T. Marshall in State, ex rel. Cezkovsky, v. Industrial Commission, 126 Ohio St., 39, 40, to the effect that in a case in which the Industrial Commission does not definitely and finally pass upon the workman’s claim, procedendo is the proper remedy, and Chief Justice Marshall’s opinion (p. 40) reads in part as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
179 N.E.2d 90, 113 Ohio App. 405, 17 Ohio Op. 2d 474, 1961 Ohio App. LEXIS 704, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-serafin-v-industrial-commission-ohioctapp-1961.