# State Ex Rel. Patterson v. Industrial Commission

> Ohio Supreme Court · December 24, 1996 · 77 Ohio St. 3d 201

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9801054

## Case

- **Full name:** The State Ex Rel. Patterson, Appellant, v. Industrial Commission of Ohio Et Al., Appellees
- **Court:** Ohio Supreme Court
- **Decided:** December 24, 1996
- **Citations:** 77 Ohio St. 3d 201; 1996 Ohio 263
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Pfeifer
- **Judges:** Douglas, Resnick, Sweeney, Pfeifer, Moyer, Cook, Stratton
- **Cited by:** 25 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9801054

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- discussing the constitutional guarantee “that all similarly situated individuals be treated in a similar manner”

## Opinion text

Pfeifer, J.,
concurring. I write only to express my incredulity that this matter has reached this court. Ohio’s welfare and workers’ compensation systems heartlessly memorialized the difficult life of Frank Patterson with a cruel epitaph: “He Shouldn’t Have Tried.” Patterson attempted to live his life with some dignity. He did not take a handout — he was willing to work in order to receive public assistance. God knows it was not pleasant work — his on-the-job exposure to pigeon droppings caused his mortal illness. But “workfare” and its promise of improved self-esteem and self-reliance left Patterson dead and his widow with an insulting $33.11 per week. How poor off are we that this state cannot offer the families of work-relief employees killed on the job the same treatment as other workers killed on the job? Is death on work relief jobs so prevalent that the Department of Human Services cannot afford to reimburse the workers’ compensation fund for the cost of the benefits? Did the General Assembly really intend that the widow Patterson should survive on $1,721.72 per year? Would the extra seven thousand dollars a year Mrs. Patterson requests bust Ohio’s $16 billion budget? Or is our deficit not monetary but rather a shortfall in compassion and humanity?

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9801054. Public record. Not legal advice.