State ex rel. Jones v. Indus. Comm.

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The State ex rel. Jones, Appellee, v. Industrial

Commission of Ohio, Appellant, et al.

[Cite as State ex rel. Jones v. Indus. Comm. (1992),

Ohio St.3d .]

Workers' compensation -- Jurisdictional requirements of R.C.

4123.516 complied with, when.

(No. 91-2522 -- Submitted September 22, 1992 -- Decided

November 18, 1992.)

Appeal from the Court of Appeals for Franklin County, No.

90AP-1318.

On January 25, 1984, relator-appellee, Jessie C. Jones, an

employee of Cal Gas-Toledo, was injured in the course of and

arising out of his employment. Respondent-appellant,

Industrial Commission of Ohio ("commission"), allowed

appellee's claim for "bruise end of spine" and, by an order

dated January 15, 1985, awarded appellee temporary total

disability benefits from January 16, 1985 through February 28,

1985. The commission further ordered that such benefits were

to "continue upon submission of competent medical proof of

disability * * *."

In February 1987, the commission's investigative division,

believing that appellee had been working while receiving

temporary total disability compensation, filed a motion with

the commission seeking a declaration of overpayment. The

motion was heard on May 11, 1987 by a commission district

hearing officer, who determined that appellee had returned to

"substantially gainful remunerative employment." The district

hearing officer declared an overpayment from April 15, 1985

through the last date of temporary total disability paid, and

referred the matter to the Bureau of Workers' Compensation

("bureau") for calculation of the overpayment.

Appellee appealed the hearing officer's order to the

Toledo Regional Board of Review ("board"). While appellee's

appeal was pending, the bureau calculated the overpayment at

$20,403.56.

On November 25, 1987, the board heard appellee's appeal

and issued an order modifying the May 11, 1987 order. The

board concluded that appellee had been overpaid in the amount

of $6,082.65. No appeal was immediately taken.

In January 1988, the board issued a "Corrected Order."

This order restated that appellee had been overpaid in the

amount of $6,082.65, but added that the overpayment represented

"commissions received from May 15, 1985, through September 23,

1986."

On February 9, 1988, the bureau's administrator filed a

motion with the commission claiming that he had not received,

as required by R.C. 4123.522, notice of the board's November

25, 1987 order. An affidavit from David P. Szuch, an attorney

for the administrator, indicated that the bureau first became

aware of the November 25, 1987 order only after receiving the

board's January 1988 corrected order. The administrator,

pursuant to R.C. 4123.522, sought relief from the commission.

The commission, on March 18, 1988, found that the

administrator met the requirements of R.C. 4123.522, and

granted the administrator leave to file an appeal from the

board's November 25, 1987 order. Accordingly, on April 22,

1988, the administrator filed a notice of appeal with the

commission.

On August 17, 1988, two staff hearing officers of the

commission addressed the merits of the administrator's appeal.

The hearing officers vacated the board's November 25, 1987

order (declaring a $6,082.65 overpayment) and reinstated the

district hearing officer's May 11, 1987 order (declaring a

$20,403.56 overpayment). The hearing officers further

concluded that the administrator's April 22, 1988 notice of

appeal was sufficient to place all parties on notice of the

actual issues in dispute.

Subsequently, appellee moved for reconsideration of the

August 17, 1988 order. The commission denied appellee's

motion. Appellee then filed an action in mandamus in the Court

of Appeals for Franklin County, alleging that the commission

abused its discretion by recognizing the administrator's notice

of appeal as a valid notice of appeal from the board's November

25, 1987 order. Appellee claimed that the notice of appeal

failed to satisfy the requirements set forth in R.C. 4123.516

and, as a consequence, the commission lacked subject-matter

jurisdiction to address the merits of the administrator's

appeal. The court of appeals, agreeing with appellee's

assertions, granted the writ.

The cause is before the court as a matter of right.

Gallon & Takacs Co., L.P.A., and Theodore A. Bowman, for

appellee.

Lee I. Fisher, Attorney General, and Merl H. Wayman,

Assistant Attorney General, for appellant.

Douglas, J. This appeal raises the issue whether the

notice of appeal filed by the administrator on April 22, 1988

was sufficient to invoke the commission's jurisdiction so as to

allow the commission to address the merits of the

administrator's appeal.

The administrator's April 22, 1988 notice of appeal was,

for the most part, a duplication of the commission's March 18,

1988 order. The notice of appeal provided, in part, that:

"James L. Mayfield says that he is the Administrator, BWC

in the above-numbered claim, and that this claim was heard by

the Staff Hearing Officer at Columbus, Ohio, on March 18, 1988,

and the following finding was made: This matter came on for

hearing on 3-18-88, before the Deputies of the Industrial

Commission * * *. This claim has been previously recognized

for: Bruise end of spine. The Commission finds that the

Administrator has met the requirements of Section 4123.522,

R.C. The Administrator is granted relief. The Administrator

may file an appeal from the Toledo Regional Board order dated

11-25-87 within the statutory period from the date of receipt

of this order. The order herein is based on the application,

evidence in the file and/or evidence adduced at the hearing.

"Notice of such finding was received by him on April 20,

1988. Said appellant hereby gives notice of his appeal from

said order."

R.C. 4123.516 governs appeals from decisions of district

hearing officers and regional boards of review. The statute

requires that a notice of appeal state "* * * the names of the

claimant and the employer, the number of the claim, the date of

the decision appealed from, and the fact that the appellant

appeals therefrom."

The court of appeals held that the administrator did not

comply with the jurisdictional dictates of R.C. 4123.516. The

court determined that the administrator failed to properly

designate that he was appealing the board's November 25, 1987

order, but instead designated that he was appealing the

commission's March 18, 1988 order. We disagree.

We find that the administrator has fully complied with

R.C. 4123.516, setting forth all the elements to be included in

a notice of appeal -- including having adequately stated his

intention to appeal the board's November 25, 1987 order.

However, even if we were to assume that some ambiguity exists

as to precisely which order the administrator was appealing, we

would nevertheless conclude that the administrator has

sufficiently complied with the jurisdictional demands of R.C.

4123.516.

In Fisher v. Mayfield (1987), 30 Ohio St.3d 8, 30 OBR 16,

505 N.E.2d 975, and State ex rel. Ormet Corp. v. Burkhart

(1986), 25 Ohio St.3d 112, 25 OBR 160, 495 N.E.2d 422, we

concluded that a notice of appeal, filed pursuant to R.C.

4123.519, is not fatally defective even though the notice

purports to appeal a commission's order refusing to address an

appeal from an order of a hearing officer, rather than a merit

order of the regional board. Specifically, in Fisher, we held

that the notice requirements of R.C. 4123.519 are satisfied as

long as the notice of appeal is filed in a timely manner and

that it is in "substantial compliance" with the statute. We

further held that substantial compliance occurs when a notice

of appeal "includes sufficient information, in intelligible

form, to place on notice all parties to a proceeding that an

appeal has been filed from an identifiable final order which

has determined the parties' substantive rights and

liabilities." Id., 30 Ohio St.3d at 11, 30 OBR at 18-19, 505

N.E.2d at 977.

Similarly, in Ormet, we determined that the notice of

appeal complied with R.C. 4123.519, reasoning that:

"'* * * None of the * * * [defendants] can argue nor do

they argue that they were misled as to the sense or reason

behind the notice of appeal. All of the * * * [defendants] are

well aware that the last factual and legal issues brought

before the administrative body were determined by the Regional

Board of Review and that it would be those facts and those

legal determinations which would be the issue of the appeal.

* * *'" Id., 25 Ohio St.3d at 115, 25 OBR at 162, 495 N.E.2d

at 425.

Although Fisher and Ormet involved R.C. 4123.519 and not

R.C. 4123.516, the two statutes, for purposes relevant herein,

are identical. The notice elements of R.C. 4123.516 are

exactly the same as those found in R.C. 4123.519. Hence, there

is no reason why this court's holdings governing R.C. 4123.519

notices of appeal should not apply to notices filed under R.C.

4123.516.

In the case at bar, the commission, in its March 18, 1988

order, concluded that the administrator, pursuant to R.C.

4123.522, was entitled to relief. The effect of that order was

to allow the administrator to contest the board's November 25,

1987 order. Indeed, the appellee had to know that the

administrator, having sought and received R.C. 4123.522 relief,

would be appealing the November 25, 1987 order. Given this,

appellee cannot credibly demonstrate that he was surprised,

misled or unfairly prejudiced by the April 22, 1988 notice of

appeal. Further, to interpret the administrator's notice of

appeal as intending to appeal the March 18, 1988 order is

illogical. That order granted the administrator his requested

relief. The administrator had no reason to appeal such a

favorable order.

Based on the foregoing, we find that the administrator has

complied with the jurisdictional dictates of R.C. 4123.516. To

find otherwise would allow appellee to circumvent a fundamental

tenet of judicial review in Ohio that, when appropriate, courts

should decide cases on their merits. See Fisher, supra, at 11,

30 OBR at 19, 505 N.E.2d at 977.

Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the court of

appeals.

Judgment reversed.

Moyer, C.J., Sweeney, Holmes, Wright, H. Brown and

Resnick, JJ., concur.