Opinion
No. 29534.
Decided January 26, 1944.
Workmen's compensation — Award for permanent total disability — Section 1465-81, General Code — Maximum rate of compensation fixed by statute at date of injury.
IN MANDAMUS.
Relator was injured on July 11, 1919, and was awarded workmen's compensation of $12 per week for total disability.
In his petition filed in this court he prays for a writ of mandamus requiring the payment of additional compensation for permanent total disability, as provided by law. He contends that the amendments of Section 1465-81, General Code, in 1921, 1923 and 1941 (109 Ohio Laws, 291, 294; 110 Ohio Laws, 224, 227; 119 Ohio Laws, 565, 573), increasing the maximum amount to be paid weekly for permanent total disability from $12 to $15, $18.75 and $21, respectively, entitle him to additional compensation which had been denied him by the Industrial Commission.
The answer of the Industrial Commission admits the injury on July 11, 1919; the application for compensation and the payment of the maximum of $12 per week for permanent total disability; the amendment of Section 1465-81, General Code, in 1921, 1923 and 1941, increasing the maximum amount to be paid per week for such disability; and the denial of additional compensation for the reason that the maximum rate of compensation that could be paid for permanent total disability at the time of relator's injury, on July 11, 1919, was $12 per week. The answer then denies other allegations of the petition, which it is not necessary to recite.
No reply was filed, but a deposition was taken which contains testimony not relevant to this proceeding.
Mr. B.F. Welty, for relator.
Mr. Thomas J. Herbert, attorney general, and Mr. Robert E. Hall, for respondent.
In Industrial Commission v. Kamrath, 118 Ohio St. 1, 160 N.E. 470, this court held in the syllabus:
"1. The rights of injured employees and the dependents of killed employees to participate in the state insurance fund are such, and such only, as are conferred by statutory law.
"2. The provisions of the General Code relating to compensation of injured employees or the dependents of killed employees in force at the time the cause of action accrues are the measure of the right of such employees and dependents to participate in the state insurance fund.
"3. The cause of action of an injured employee accrues at the time he receives an injury in the course of his employment."
No duty rested upon the Industrial Commission to pay more than $12 per week, which was the maximum amount payable to relator for permanent total disability as of the date of his injury under Section 1465-81, General Code.
A writ of mandamus is denied.
Writ denied.
WEYGANDT, C.J., HART, ZIMMERMAN, BELL, WILLIAMS and TURNER, JJ., concur.
MATTHIAS, J., not participating.