2006 Ohio Supreme Court Workers' Compensation Decisions
This page lists Ohio Supreme Court workers' compensation decisions from
2006. Decisions which adopt the
decision of a
lower court or Magistrate, or which decide a case based on a previous
decision, are excluded. Click on the case name to read the decision on the
Ohio Supreme Court's web site.
December 2006
December 27
Temporary Total:
Worker discharged after ignoring repeated warnings not to engage in
prohibited conduct voluntarily abandoned his employment and was not
entitled to temporary total.
Vote:
5-2
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
AWW:
Res judicata
bars second motion to increase average weekly wage where issues argued
in second motion could have been raised at time of first motion to
recalculate.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by: Per
Curiam
December 20
Amputation/Loss
of Use:
Payment of loss of use award must be made where injured worker suffered
loss of use even if he only survived for a short time after injury and
never regained consciousness.
Vote:
5-0, 2 concur separately
Opinion by: Moyer
December 13
VSSR:
Safety code provision which applies when machine is "shut down" does
not apply where machine was running at time of injury.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
December 6
Administrative
Practice:
Third-party administrators may offer general assistance in workers'
compensation claims, as long as the assistance does not require legal
analysis, skill, citation or interpretation.
Vote:
5-0, 1 concurs in judgment only, 1 concurs in part and dissents in part
Opinion by:
O'Connor
Permanent Total:
Commission must resolve conflict between order granting permanent total
which indicated that claimant had involuntarily left workforce and
order denying temporary total which indicated that claimant had
voluntarily left workforce.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
Temporary Total:
Retirement due to a condition which is not work-related bars
temporary total.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
November 2006
November 29
Permanent
Partial:
All permanent partial awards are combined in determining whether the
100% limit for permanent partial awards has been reached, including
awards which had been made in claims which have expired.
Vote: 7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
November 15
Administrative:
Employer's attorneys acted improperly when they failed to
comply
with O.A.C. 4123-3-09(C)(5)(a) and provide a copy of a medical report
resulting from an employer's medical exam to the claimant's
representative and BWC.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
November 8
Medical:
Commission cannot rely on medical opinion from a doctor when it has
previously rejected that opinion even if the report stating that
opinion has not previously been considered.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
November 1
VSSR:
The term "operating cycle" used in former O.A.C. 4121:1-5-11 (currently
in O.A.C. 4123:1-5-11) includes all operated-press activity, not just
intentional activity.
Vote:
6-0, 1 concur in judgment only
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
October 2006
<< No decisions indexed >>
September 2006
<< No decisions indexed >>
August 2006
August 23
Medical: Commission
is not required to consider facility costs incurred by self-insured
employer's creation of on-site physical therapy facility when
determining whether cost of physical therapy at another location is
"medically reasonable."
Vote: 7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
July 2006
July 26
Death:
When a dependent who seeks benefits due an injured worker dies, the
dependent's estate is only due those benefits which had accrued at the
time the dependent died.
Vote:
6-0, 1 concurs in judgment only
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
July 19
Average Weekly
Wage: Special
circumstances provision of R.C. 4123.61 does not justify recalculating
the average weekly wage for an injured worker who continues to work
after injury and whose wages have increased over time.
Vote:
5-2
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
July 12
Trial Practice:
Workers' compensation claimants have no constitutional right to a jury
trial; right to jury trial is limited to what legislature provided in
R.C. 4123.512 and does not provide injured workers a right to present
live testimony.
Vote: 4-3
Opinion by:
O'Connor
July 5
Permanent Total:
Injured worker whose treating doctor says is incapable of sustained
remunerative employment is not barred from receipt of permanent total
by failing to accept job offered by employer.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
June 2006
June 28
Temporary Total:
Commission decision that injured worker was not entitled to receipt of
temporary total must be based on evidence, not speculation.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
May 2006
May 31
VSSR: Unilateral
negligence does not bar VSSR award where employer did not initially
comply with requirements of safety code.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
May 24
Medical:
Where two doctors opined that MRI would be "reasonable and necessary"
procedure for assisting treatment of injured knee, "some evidence"
supported Commission's decision to authorize MRI.
Vote: 7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
Permanent
Partial: Commission is not required to explain why medical
evidence it chose to rely on is more persuasive than other medical
evidence.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
May 10
Permanent Total: Last
injurious exposure rule does not apply to allocation of permanent total
disability; where evidence attributes disability to first claim,
Commission properly allocated award of permanent total to that claim.
Vote:
5-2
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
April 2006
April 19
Trial Practice:
Savings statute requires complaint to be refiled within one year of
dismissal where employee has dismissed complaint in an employer appeal
to court under R.C. 4123.512.
Vote: 5-0,
2 concur in judgment only
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
March 2006
March 22
VSSR:
Employer is required to comply with safety requirements; where employer
does not initially comply with safety requirements, employee negligence
is not defense to VSSR award.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
Temporary Total:
Doctor's opinion that condition had reached maximum medical improvement
was premature where doctor was unaware of approved treatment plan;
because opinion was premature, it did not support order terminating
temporary total based on MMI.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
March 15
Temporary Total:
Written job description which which was based on restrictions reported
by doctor who did not consider all of the allowed conditions did not
support decision to terminate temorary total; defects in written job
description cannot be cured by oral assurances regarding job duties.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
March 1
Medical:
Suspension of a claim for failure to attend a medical exam as required
by R.C. 4123.651 does not bar compensation later retroactively being
awarded for the time the claim was suspended when the suspension is
lifted.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
Living
Maintenance:
Commission properly denied payment of living maintenance benefits to
claimant who failed to follow approved vocational rehabilitation plan.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
February 2006
February 8
Continuing
Jurisdiction:
Doctors' lack of knowledge of jobs held at a time earlier than the
permanent total application did not affect claimant's condition at the
time of the examinations and did not constitute a mistake of fact which
would support Commission exercise of continuing jurisdiction.
Vote: 6-0,
1 concurs in judgment only
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
Temporary Total:
Claimant who receives money for labor is not entitled to temporary
total compensation, regardless of whether he shows a profit for his
labor.
Vote:
7-0
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
January 2006
January 18
Mandamus:
R.C. 4123.522 provides an adequate remedy at law, and employer which
did not file R.C. 4123.522 motion after failing to receive notice of
hearing was not entitled to mandamus because employer failed to exhaust
administrative remedies.
Vote: 6-0,
1 concurs separately
Opinion by:
Per Curiam
Injured at Work?
Stewart Jaffy &
Associates can help you receive the workers’ compensation
benefits you
are entitled to. We are based in Columbus and represent
injured
workers throughout Ohio before the BWC, Industrial Commission
and
in court.
We also represent people who have social security
disability claims or who have a disability claim before another state
administrative agency (PERS, STRS, SERS or police and fire fighters
disability).
Initial consultations with potential clients are
free. If you are interested in talking with us about a
potential
case, call us at (614) 228-6148.
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LPA | Attorneys at Law
306 E. Gay St. | Columbus, OH 43215
Telephone: (614) 228-6148 | Fax: (614) 228-6140
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