Current through: May 1, 2011

Recent Court of Appeals Decisions

This page lists Ohio Court of Appeals workers' compensation decisions summarized in 2012. 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. You can see a list of older Court of Appeals workers' compensation decisions on our Court of Appeals archive page.

Added May 1, 2012:

Cline, State ex rel. v. Abke Trucking, Inc. (5/1/12, posted 5/1/12)

Temporary Total: Employer has burden of proving that injured worker voluntarily abandoned their employment; injured worker forced to quit work due to non-allowed medical condition did not voluntarily abandon his emloyment.

Vote: 2-1
Opinion by: Judge Connor
Appellate District: 10

Lucas, State ex rel. v. Indus. Comm. (4/26/12, posted 4/26/12)

Temporary Total: Some evidence supports Commission's decision that injured worker voluntarily abandoned her employment by accepting early retirement at a time when she was not disabled.

Vote: 2-0, 1 concurs in part and dissents in part
Opinion by: Judge Sadler
Appellate District: 10

Added March 30, 2012

Bell v. Bur. of Workers' Comp. (3/30/12, posted 3/30/12)

Trial Practice: Trier of fact cannot arbitrarily ignore expert testimony; evidence supported allowance of radiculopathy.

Vote: 3-0
Opinion by: Per Curiam
Appellate District: 1

Toth v. United States Steel Corp. (3/30/12, posted 3/30/12)

Injury: Stroke caused by hitting head due to negligent act of nurse's aide was not compensable because the negligence was an independent cause of injury and no evidence indicated that the allowed condition caused the stroke.

Vote: 2-1
Opinion by: Judge Dickinson
Appellate District: 9

Smith, State ex rel. v. Indus. Comm. (3/13/12, posted 3/13/12)

Amputation/Loss of Use: Award for total loss of vision or hearing does not require findings demonstrating 100 percent loss. Commission can grant award for total loss of vision or hearing based on practical application of data demonstrating less than 100 percent loss.

Vote: 3-0
Opinion by: Judge French
Appellate District: 10

Lehman v. Buehrer (3/8/12, posted 3/8/12)

Trial Practice: Notice of Appeal which contained wrong information about employer, claim number and date of injury does not substantially comply with R.C. 4123.512 requirements. Errors in notice of appeal cannot be corrected by reference to complaint.

Vote: 3-0
Opinion by: Judge Celebrezze
Appellate District: 8

Added February 28, 2012

Jones v. Smith Transport (2/14/12, posted 2/22/12)

Trial Practice: Trial court lacks jurisdiction to consider which entity employed an injured worker on an R.C. 4123.512 appeal becausethe only issue before the court is the injured worker's right to participate.

Vote: 3-0
Opinion by: Judge Abele
Appellate District: 4

Bradley v. Ohio Dept. of Transp. (2/7/12, posted 2/7/12)

Trial Practice: Trial court properly required injured worker to establish that they suffered from CRPS, even though Industrial Commission order considered RSD, because medical testimony established that both terms described the same medical condition.

Vote: 3-0
Opinion by: Judge Klatt
Appellate District: 10

Davis v. Ryan (1/31/12, posted 1/31/12)

Trial Practice: Trial court properly granted summary judgment where doctor could not testify to any degree of probability that work activities caused death.

Vote: 3-0
Opinion by: Judge Sadler
Appellate District: 10

Added January 30, 2012

Lane v. Bur. of Workers' Comp (1/20/12, posted1/20/12)

Trial Practice: Where Commission exercised continuing jurisdiction to vacate self-insurer's allowance based on newly discovered evidence, issue before trial court on appeal was only allowance of claim, not whether Commission properly exercised continuing jurisdiction.

Vote: 3-0
Opinion by: Judge Fain
Appellate District: 2