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Valentine v. PPG Industries8/15/2001
DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY RELEASED: 8/15/01
This is an appeal and cross-appeal from a Pickaway County Common Pleas Court judgment that dismissed an appeal from the Ohio Industrial Commission "for lack of subject matter jurisdiction." Linda Valentine, plaintiff below and appellant herein, assigns the following errors for our review:
FIRST ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR:
"THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY DISMISSING PLAINTIFF'S CASE, SUA SPONTE, FOR LACK OF SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION AND BY DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR A SPECIFIC FINDING OF FACT AND LAW."
SECOND ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR:
"THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS."
PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG), defendant below and cross-appellant herein, posits the following additional assignment of error:
"THIS ACTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISMISSED FOR LACK OF SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION BECAUSE THE COMMON PLEAS COURT HAD THE AUTHORITY TO REMAND THE CASE TO THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION FOR CLARIFICATION OR CORRECTION OF A CLERICAL ERROR PURSUANT TO SECTION 4123.512 OF THE OHIO REVISED CODE."
A review of the record reveals the following facts pertinent to this appeal. David Valentine began work for PPG in 1969 and spent almost thirty years with the company as a lab technician and "environment specialist/clean-up worker." Valentine dealt with hazardous chemical spills on the jobsite. During the course of his employment, Valentine was exposed to numerous toxic chemicals including various hydrocarbon compounds linked to cancer. In 1997, he was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiform (a type of brain tumor) and underwent surgery as well as aggressive chemotherapy. Unfortunately, Valentine died on May 29, 1999.
Valentine's widow, Linda Valentine (appellant), filed a claim for death benefits pursuant to R.C. 4123.59. The matter was heard on March 29, 2000, and the District Hearing Officer issued a report several weeks later. The hearing officer found that the conditions of the decedent's employment "created a risk of contracting the fatal condition of Glioblastoma [multiform] due to chemical exposure in a greater degree and in a different manner than in the public generally . . ." In reaching that conclusion, the hearing officer relied on the sworn statement of Dr. Miner "that the decedent-claimant's long-term exposure to chemicals in his employment is causally related to his condition of glioblastoma multiform and resultant death."
PPG appealed and the matter was reviewed by a Staff Hearing Officer on May 23, 2000. The Staff Hearing Officer rendered his report several weeks later and it is this report that has formed the basis for the controversy in the instant appeal. The report begins by stating that " he order of the District Hearing Officer, from the hearing date 03/29/2000, is affirmed." (Emphasis added.) However, the Staff Hearing Officer then appears to contradict himself by ruling against the claimant (appellant). The reports provides, inter alia, as follows:
"As to the merits of the case, the decedent, as the District Hearing Officer indicated, was a laboratory technician and environment specialist/clean-up worker for the employer. The decedent's work did require him to be exposed to a wide variety of chemicals including hydrocarbons. Based on this type of exposure, Dr. Miner, a neurosurgeon who treated the decedent, stated pursuant to his 8/30/99 report the following in terms of the relationship of decedent's brain cancer and his employment, `. . . I do believe, that his long-term exposure to these chemicals as you described puts him at high risk and could well be the causative agent in his tumor'
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