State Ex Rel. United States Playing Card Co. v. Industrial Commission

361 N.E.2d 509, 49 Ohio App. 2d 351, 3 Ohio Op. 3d 422, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5831
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 20, 1976
Docket76AP-40
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 361 N.E.2d 509 (State Ex Rel. United States Playing Card Co. 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. United States Playing Card Co. v. Industrial Commission, 361 N.E.2d 509, 49 Ohio App. 2d 351, 3 Ohio Op. 3d 422, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5831 (Ohio Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Holmes, J.

This matter involves the of a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Franklin County granting relator, the appellee herein, a writ of mandamus remanding the contested claim of relator’s employee to the Industrial Commission, with instructions to the commission to consider the subject claim as one for “injury” or, in the alternative, to give relator an opportunity to be heard on the issues of ‘ ‘ occupational disease. ’ ’

The facts in brief giving rise to the action in niandamus, and the appeal thereof to this court, are that on April 19, 1971, Joyce- Alexander, an employee of relator United States Playing Card Company, filed for compensation with, the Bureau of Workmen’s Compensation, alleging *352 an injpry described as nerve injury in the. right hand and arm.. The C-50 form of the Industrial Commission is an “injury” application as opposed to an “occupational disease” application. The Bureau of Workmen’s Compensati'óh assigned ah injury number to the claim and sent the copy of such form to the relator. The relator responded to the notification of the. C-50 form, treating the application, and .information contained on the form as. involving a claimed compensable injury.

The investigator of the Bureau of Workmen’s Compensation,' ' conducting the investigation "upon the claim, reported a" specific injury date of April 2,1971, and,' within his déscription of the incident, spoke of the alleged “accident” and described the-alleged “injury.”-'The deputy administrator of Workmen’s Compensation conducted a hearing on the merits and disallowed Mrs;'Alexander’s claim by an order dated January 4, 1972, stating in such report “ * for the reason that proof On file does not show that claimant’s disability described as carpal tunnel syndrome was. or'is the result of a compensable occupational disease contracted in the course of employment.’’’ The order does not contain any explanation as to why' such term “occupational disease” was used rather' than “injury.” The ofdér still contained a specific injury date as well as an injury claim number.

. Mrs. Alexander appealed the disallowance of her claim to tbe Regional Board, of Review, but presented no new evidence. However, a Dr, Theodore Vinke,'.an orthopedic surgepnj. who had examined Mrs., Alexander, did tour the employees’ work area at the company’s request. B>r.' Vinke’s letter to fhj company vas ás f ollpvs:

.' ’Qn Wednesday,' January 19, 1972, F maje á tour of tiie facilities of thp United States Playing Card Company, which, included, ’ the' inspection of the job, of a stripping ipachipe/ operafpr which Mrs.- Joyce Alexander was doing at’.the,t’iije^.sbe-claimed, .she developed symptoms in hér righ't^bapd.. After . closely observing several' employees doing) ¡the type. ,.of work that Mrs. Alexander vás engaged in, I was impressed by the fact that the work was not stren *353 uous and did not require much force as far as-hitting thd cards with'-her hands was concerned. At the timé'of- m^ examination of this patient, I was under the impression'that this job required a more violent force than what I witnessed. I was also -informed that there are no other cases 6f employees that developed this condition while doing this type of work at the United States Playing Card Company; Normally this job should not produce any physical damage. In view of the type of work that the patient was doing, it appears that the patient may have injured her wrist elsewhere since' her occupation was not strenuous or violent. The question as to whether there was a pre-existing condition prior to the onset of her symptoms is difficult to prove. ■
“Very truly yours,
“/s/ T. H. Vinké* M.D.”

The regional board disallowed the appeal and Mrs. Alexander then appealed her claim to the Industriar Commission, where no new evidence was submitted; thereafter,' the Industrial Commission allowed the claim of Mrs. Alexander as one for an occupational disease. The relator filed an application for reconsideration with the commission, which the commission subsequently denied. ' •

The employer, United States Playing Card Company, a self-insurer under the workmen’s compensation laws of Ohio, thereafter filed this action in mandamus against the Industrial Commission on the basis that the latter commission had abused its discretion in granting the instant award; that it had been denied due process of law in not' being given a right to a hearing and a review of the employee’s claim, in that initially the claim had been filed upon an iii-jury claim form and the commission had considered and investigated the claim as being an injury claim rather than an occupational disease; and that the relator employer based its presentation and procedure upon such type'of a' claim rather than upon the procedure it would have used if an occupational disease had been claimed and processed. The relator 'employer further claims that it has been disadvantaged due to the fact that such an amendment of the nature'of the claim from an injury to an occupational *354 disease allowance would, by virtue of the law, preclude the employer from a direct appeal to the Court of Common Pleas.

I

There are, indeed, two different sections of law that would be applicable; one, if the claimant was relying upon an injury as received in the course of her employment, and, the other, if she indeed was relying upon and processing an occupational disease claim. “Injury” is defined in R. C. 4123.01(C), which is, in pertinent part, as follows:

“* * * [A]ny injury, whether caused by external accidental means or accidental in character and result, received in the course of, and arising out of, the injured employee’s employment.”

■ The section of law providing for “all other occupational diseases” that would be particularly applicable to the present case, in that the injury claimed here is not one of those specifically enumerated in R. C. 4123.68, is that of subsection (BB) “all other occupational diseases,” which is as follows:

“A disease peculiar to a particular industrial process, trade, or occupation and to which an employee is not ordinarily subjected or exposed outside of or away from his employment.”

Where an occupational disease has been claimed, proof as to the hazards and exposures of a particular employment and the history of the diseases in that particular employment would be critical. However, in an injury case, such evidence would not be necessary or even relevant. Therefore, it can be plainly seen from the statutory definitions that occupational diseases, insofar as proof is concerned, are considerably different from injuries, and parties to disease claims must prepare and present their cases in an entirely different fashion than in an injury claim.

In addition to the relatively different factors necessary to be presented by the parties to one or . the other type of claim here, if such be determined to be an occupational disease, the Ohio statutes, most specifically section 4123.519, provide no direct appeal to a Court of Common Pleas in *355 an occupational disease claim. In such regard, see Szekely v.

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Bluebook (online)
361 N.E.2d 509, 49 Ohio App. 2d 351, 3 Ohio Op. 3d 422, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5831, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-united-states-playing-card-co-v-industrial-commission-ohioctapp-1976.