Vulcan Materials Co. v. Industrial Com'n of Ohio, s. 85-938
| Decision Date | 09 July 1986 |
| Docket Number | 85-1234 and 85-1318,85-1160,85-1200,85-1199,85-1008,Nos. 85-938,s. 85-938 |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
| Parties | , 25 O.B.R. 26 VULCAN MATERIALS COMPANY, Appellant, v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF OHIO et al., Appellees. STATE, ex rel. SMITH, Appellee, v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF OHIO et al., Appellants. STATE, ex rel. SHAFFER, Appellee, v. H.O. CANFIELD CO. OF INDIANA, INC.; Industrial Commission of Ohio, Appellant. STATE, ex rel. BROWN, Appellee, v. BUCKEYE METAL & REFINING; Industrial Commission of Ohio, Appellant. STATE, ex rel. WRIGHT, Appellee, v. O.S. KELLY CO.; Industrial Commission of Ohio, Appellant. STATE, ex rel. CLARK, Appellee, v. OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY; Industrial Commission of Ohio, Appellant. STATE, ex rel. DAY, Appellee, v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF OHIO, Appellant, et al. |
Mitchell, Allen, Catalano, Boda & Clark Co., L.P.A., Daniel K. Boda and William A. Catalano, Columbus, for claimants in case Nos. 85-938 and 85-1008.
Michael J. Muldoon, Columbus, for claimants in case Nos. 85-1160, 85-1199, 85-1200 and 85-1234.
Thompson, Meier & Dersom and Thomas D. Thompson, Columbus, for claimant in case No. 85-1318.
Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease, Thomas M. Taggart and Bruce L. Ingram, Columbus, for appellant Vulcan Materials Co. in case No. 85-938, and for Buckeye Metal & Refining in case No. 85-1199.
Stanley R. Stein and Donald A. Mullin, Columbus, for appellant J.C. Penney Co. in case No. 85-1008.
Smith & Schnacke Co., L.P.A., Gary W. Auman and Geraldine M. Johnson, Dayton, urging reversal for amicus curiae, American Freight System, Inc. et al. in case No. 85-1008.
Anthony J. Celebrezze, Jr., Atty. Gen., Janet E. Jackson and Michael L. Squillace, Columbus, for appellee Indus. Com'n in case No. 85-938.
Anthony J. Celebrezze, Jr., Atty. Gen., and Merl H. Wayman, Columbus, for appellant Indus. Com'n in case Nos. 85-1008, 85-1160, 85-1199, 85-1200, 85-1234 and 85-1318.
The common gravamen of each of these consolidated actions concerns the authority of the Industrial Commission to reclassify a disability from temporary to permanent prior to the claimant's receipt of two hundred weeks of temporary total disability benefits.
This court recently addressed this identical issue in State, ex rel. Bryant, v. Pinkerton's, Inc. (1986), 24 Ohio St.3d 79, 493 N.E.2d 544. Therein, this court specifically rejected the argument that R.C. 4123.56 mandates two hundred weeks of temporary total compensation before the commission may find an injury to have become permanent. Rather, this court interpreted the two hundred weeks' provision of R.C. 4123.56 as manifesting " 'a safety valve on the indefinite payment of temporary benefits.' " Id. at 83, 493 N.E.2d 544.
Accordingly, the judgments of the court of appeals in contravention of this court's finding in Bryant, supra, are hereby reversed.
A second issue raised in these appeals brings into question whether, in the commission's consideration of the permanency of a disability, the commission must determine whether the claimant could return to his former position of employment.
We hold that in the consideration of the permanency of a disability, the commission need not determine whether the claimant could return to his former position of employment. The commission's designation of a disability as permanent relates solely to the perceived longevity of the condition at issue. It has absolutely no bearing upon the claimant's ability to perform the tasks involved in his former position of employment. Further, in Logsdon v. Indus. Comm. (1944), 143 Ohio St. 508, 57 N.E.2d 75 , at paragraph two of the syllabus, this court defined the term "permanent" as applied to disability under the workmen's compensation law as a condition which will, " * * * with reasonable probability, continue for an indefinite period of time without any present indication of recovery therefrom."
For the reason set forth in this opinion, we hereby reverse the court of...
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