State ex rel. King v. Industrial Commission

Summary

The Ohio Supreme Court held that a wholly dependent person whose decedent was receiving total disability compensation is not automatically entitled to the statutory maximum death benefit under R.C. 4123.59(B). The court also held that the lengthy period between the decedent’s injury and death did not constitute the special circumstances required under R.C. 4123.61 to recalculate the benefit. The court reinstated the Industrial Commission’s decision.

Holdings

1. The proviso making a wholly dependent person eligible for the maximum compensation when the decedent was receiving total-disability compensation at death does not entitle the dependent to an automatic increase to the statutory maximum regardless of average weekly wage. Death benefits remain based on 66 2/3 percent of the decedent’s average weekly wage, subject to statutory minimum and maximum limits.
2. The widow’s equal-protection challenge fails because R.C. 4123.59(B) did not deny her an increase to the maximum that similarly situated claimants received; she was not eligible for the maximum absent a sufficiently high average weekly wage.
3. The 22-year period between King’s injury and death did not constitute a special circumstance under R.C. 4123.61 warranting recalculation of the death benefit.

Questions Presented

1. Whether R.C. 4123.59(B)’s provision that a wholly dependent person is eligible for the maximum compensation when the decedent was receiving total-disability compensation at death entitles the dependent to the statutory maximum regardless of the decedent’s average weekly wage.
2. Whether denying the widow an increase to the statutory maximum violated equal protection.
3. Whether the 22-year period between King’s injury and death constituted a special circumstance under R.C. 4123.61 permitting recalculation of the benefit.

Disposition

other