Opinion
No. 90-329
Submitted November 13, 1990 —
Decided March 27, 1991.
Workers' compensation — Permanent total disability — Evaluation of nonmedical disability evidence — Limited writ.
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Franklin County, No. 89AP-96.
Appellee, James W. Cupp, was injured in 1979 while in the course of and arising from his employment with appellant, ANR/Associated Truck Lines, Inc. His workers' compensation claim was initially allowed for "left leg, low back and right leg." In 1982, it was additionally allowed for "(1) probable herniated nucleus pulposes at L4[;] (2) aggravation of pre-existing degenerative disease at L4[;] (3) aggravation of pre-existing degenerative arthrosis of the lumbar spine[;] (4) aggravation of first degree spondylolisthesis at L5."
More than six years later, appellant Industrial Commission of Ohio ("commission") denied appellee's application for permanent total disability compensation, finding:
"* * * that this claim has been allowed for: left leg, low back, right leg.
"* * *
"This order is based particularly upon the reports [ sic] of Doctor McCloud, a consideration of the claimant's age, education, work history, and other disability factors including physical, psychological and sociological, that are contained within the Statement of Facts prepared for the hearing on the instant application, the evidence in the file and the evidence adduced at the hearing."
Appellee filed a complaint in mandamus in the Court of Appeals for Franklin County, claiming that the commission abused its discretion by denying him permanent total disability compensation. The appellate court issued a limited writ returning the cause to the commission for explanation as to why the nonmedical disability factors identified in State, ex rel. Stephenson, v. Indus. Comm. (1987), 31 Ohio St.3d 167, 31 OBR 369, 509 N.E.2d 946, did not render appellee permanently and totally disabled.
The cause is before this court upon an appeal as of right.
Hochman Roach Co., L.P.A., and John W. Reed, Jr., for appellee.
Lee I. Fisher, attorney general, and Michael L. Squillace, for appellant Industrial Commission.
Schottenstein, Zox Dunn, Robert W. Weisman and William J. Barath, for appellant ANR/Associated Truck Lines, Inc.
The current controversy centers on the commission's evaluation of the nonmedical disability evidence, and whether such evaluation included consideration of the vocational report submitted by the appellee. This focus, however, obscures a more significant error — the commission's apparent failure to consider all the claim's allowed conditions.
The commission's order, the statement of facts and Dr. McCloud's report (on which the commission exclusively relied) all listed the allowed conditions as "left leg, low back, right leg." The numerous serious conditions additionally allowed in 1982 are conspicuously absent from all documents. A similarly deficient order was remanded for clarification and additional consideration in State, ex rel. Johnson, v. Indus. Comm. (1988), 40 Ohio St.3d 339, 533 N.E.2d 720. Similar action is warranted here.
Accordingly, the judgment of the court of appeals is affirmed to the following extent: that a limited writ issue ordering the commission to clarify whether it considered the conditions additionally allowed in 1982, to additionally consider, if it has not already done so, the nonmedical disability factors set forth in Stephenson, supra, including the vocational report submitted by appellee, and to indicate with specificity, pursuant to State, ex rel. Noll, v. Indus. Comm. (1991), 57 Ohio St.3d 203, 567 N.E.2d 245, which of those factors were considered in its order, and to briefly explain its decision.
Judgment affirmed as modified.
MOYER, C.J., SWEENEY, HOLMES, DOUGLAS, WRIGHT, H. BROWN and RESNICK, JJ., concur.