Title: State ex rel. Sagert v. Indus. Comm.

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Cite as State ex rel. Sagert v. Indus. Comm., 106 Ohio St.3d 48, 2005-Ohio-3670.] 
 
 
THE STATE EX REL. SAGERT, APPELLEE, v. INDUSTRIAL 
COMMISSION OF OHIO, APPELLANT, ET AL. 
[Cite as State ex rel. Sagert v. Indus. Comm., 
106 Ohio St.3d 48, 2005-Ohio-3670.] 
Workers’ compensation—R.C. 4123.52—Limit on retroactive payment of 
compensation for permanent total disability. 
(No. 2004-2052 — Submitted June 15, 2005 — Decided August 3, 2005.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Franklin County, 
No. 03AP-1083, 2004-Ohio-6122. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} Appellee-claimant, Brian A. Sagert, had his right arm amputated 
below the elbow in an industrial accident on August 9, 1992.  A workers’ 
compensation claim was allowed, and claimant eventually was compensated 
pursuant to R.C. 4123.57(B) for the total loss of use of his right arm. 
{¶ 2} In 2002, this court decided State ex rel. Thomas v. Indus. Comm., 
97 Ohio St.3d 37, 2002-Ohio-5306, 776 N.E.2d 62.  Thomas declared that the loss 
of an entire extremity constituted the loss of two distinct members, i.e., the leg 
and foot or the arm and hand.  That loss, in turn, qualified a claimant for statutory 
permanent total disability compensation (“PTD”) under R.C. 4123.58(C). 
{¶ 3} Accordingly, on December 10, 2002, claimant moved appellant, 
Industrial Commission of Ohio, for statutory PTD.  The commission granted 
claimant’s motion and awarded compensation retroactive to December 10, 2000, 
two years prior to claimant’s motion. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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{¶ 4} Claimant sought reconsideration, seeking to have the PTD start 
date established as April 12, 1993, the date of the commission order declaring a 
total loss of use of the right arm.  The commission denied claimant’s request. 
{¶ 5} Claimant filed a complaint in mandamus in the Court of Appeals 
for Franklin County.  The court granted the writ and ordered the commission to 
backdate the start date to April 12, 1993, citing its decision in State ex rel. Adams 
v. Aluchem, Inc., 10th Dist. No. 02AP-1210, 2003-Ohio-4510, 2003 WL 
22006857. 
{¶ 6} This cause is now before this court on an appeal as of right. 
{¶ 7} On December 22, 2004, we reversed the court of appeals’ decision 
in Adams.  In State ex rel. Adams v. Aluchem, Inc., 104 Ohio St.3d 640, 2004-
Ohio-6891, 821 N.E.2d 547, we ruled at the syllabus that R.C. 4123.52 barred 
retroactive payment of statutory PTD compensation for a period in excess of two 
years before the motion for PTD compensation was filed. 
{¶ 8} Claimant seeks to distinguish Adams.  In Adams, the claimant’s 
entire extremity was amputated in an industrial accident.  It was not, therefore, 
necessary for him to file a separate application seeking a formal declaration of 
total loss of an extremity under R.C. 4123.57(B).  The present claimant, because 
his severance was less extensive, was required to move the commission for a 
declaration of total loss — in this case, a total loss of use. 
{¶ 9} Claimant’s proposed distinction is irrelevant.  Whether it was the 
date of an application for the allowance of a workers’ compensation claim, as in 
Adams, or the date of an intervening order, both claimants requested the same 
thing:  to have something other than their PTD application considered the starting 
point of R.C. 4123.52’s two-year statute of limitations.  We declined to allow it in 
Adams, and our reasoning applies equally here. 
{¶ 10} The judgment of the court of appeals is hereby reversed. 
Judgment reversed. 
January Term, 2005 
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MOYER, C.J., LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’CONNOR, O’DONNELL and 
LANZINGER, JJ., concur. 
 
RESNICK and PFEIFER, JJ., dissent and would affirm the judgment of the 
court of appeals. 
__________________ 
 
Spitler & Williams-Young Co., L.P.A., William R. Menacher, and Steven 
M. Spitler, for appellee. 
 
Jim Petro, Attorney General, and Dennis Behm, Assistant Attorney 
General, for appellant. 
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