Summary
The court affirmed the denial of a mandamus petition seeking to compel the Ohio Police and Firemen's Disability and Pension Fund trustees to award permanent-total-disability benefits. It held that the trustees had broad discretion under Ohio Revised Code § 742.37(C)(3) to determine partial-disability benefits based on impaired earning capacity, and that the vested-rights provision in § 742.46 did not eliminate that discretion. The court found no clear or gross abuse of discretion warranting mandamus relief.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether mandamus could compel the pension-fund board to award Brunson 66 percent disability benefits despite conflicting medical evidence and the board's statutory discretion.
- Whether R.C. 742.46's vested-rights provision eliminated or restricted the board's discretion under R.C. 742.37(C)(3) to determine and vary partial-disability benefits based on impairment of earning capacity.
- Whether the board's original partial-disability award constituted a clear or gross abuse of discretion.
Holdings
- Mandamus may not be used to compel the pension-fund board to award a specific amount of partial-disability benefits where the governing statute grants the board discretion and the evidence is conflicting; the court may not substitute its judgment for the board's.
- R.C. 742.46 does not prohibit the board from later reviewing a beneficiary's need and varying partial-disability benefits under R.C. 742.37(C)(3), so long as the determination is reasonable and consistent with Chapter 742.
- The board did not clearly or grossly abuse its discretion in awarding Brunson partial-disability benefits based on the medical evidence and statutory criteria.
Key quotations
“Mandamus is not a substitute for appeal, nor can it be used to create an appeal in cases where an appeal is not provided by law.” (at 65)
“the original and continuing concept upon which the granting of disability benefits was based has been one of need, to be determined in the discretion of the board of trustees.” (at 69)
Factual background
Brunson was a former Cincinnati police employee who suffered job-related injuries, resulting in partial disability and separation from employment. Two physicians gave differing assessments of his disability, and the pension-fund board awarded him $150 per month in partial-disability benefits under R.C. 742.37(C)(3). Brunson sought mandamus compelling an award equal to 66 percent of his former annual salary, asserting that the board had a clear legal duty to calculate benefits solely by reference to his police-officer earning capacity.
Procedural history
Brunson, a former Cincinnati police employee receiving partial-disability benefits, petitioned the Franklin County Common Pleas Court for mandamus compelling the board to award benefits equal to 66 percent of his prior annual salary. The court denied the petition, and the Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed.