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Arline v. Administrator9/26/2000
APPEAL from the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.
Sarah L. Arline was injured in an automobile collision on February 23, 1995. On September 22, 1997, a copy of a First Report of an Injury, Occupational Disease or Death she had provided to her employer on January 24, 1997 was filed with the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation ("BWC"). She sought workers' compensation benefits for her injuries, but the BWC issued an order denying benefits because her application had not been filed within two years of the injury. A district hearing officer for the Industrial Commission of Ohio ("commission") affirmed the decision of the BWC. A staff hearing officer for the commission agreed, and further review has been denied by the commission.
Dr. Arline by then had retained legal counsel, who filed a direct appeal to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. A judge of that court granted summary judgment, again finding that Dr. Arline had failed to meet the requirement of R.C. 4123.84(A) concerning time of filing.
Counsel for Dr. Arline has now pursued a further direct appeal to this court, assigning a single error for our consideration:
The Trial Court erred in granting Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment on the basis that Plaintiff's claim was time barred.
Dr. Arline was employed by LifeCare Alliance when she was injured. LifeCare Alliance is a state-fund employer, as opposed to a self-insuring employer, for purposes of workers' compensation matters. This fact was apparently unknown to her.
R.C. 4123.84 states, in pertinent part:
(A) In all cases of injury or death, claims for compensation or benefits for the specific part or parts of the body injured shall be forever barred unless, within two years after the injury or death:
(1) Written notice of the specific part or parts of the body claimed to have been injured has been made to the industrial commission or the bureau of workers' compensation;
(2) The employer, with knowledge of a claimed compensable injury or occupational disease, has paid wages in lieu of compensation for total disability;
(3) In the event the employer is a self-insuring employer, one of the following has occurred:
(a) Written notice of the specific part or parts of the body claimed to have been injured has been given to the commission or bureau or the employer has furnished treatment by a licensed physician in the employ of an employer, provided, however, that the furnishing of such treatment shall not constitute a recognition of a claim as compensable, but shall do no more than satisfy the requirements of this section;
(b) Compensation or benefits have been paid or furnished equal to or greater than is provided for in sections 4123.52, 4123.55 to 4123.62, and 4123.64 to 4123.67 of the Revised Code.
(4) Written notice of death has been given to the commission or bureau.
(B) The bureau shall provide printed notices quoting in full division (A) of this section, and every self-insuring employer who shall post and maintain at all times one or more of the notices in conspicuous places in the workshop or places of employment.
If the words of R.C. 4123.84(A) are taken at face value, within two years of her injury Dr. Arline had to provide notice to the BWC, had to provide notice to the commission, or had to receive wages in lieu of compensation if she were to avoid being forever barred from workers' compensation benefits for her injuries. Dr. Arline provided an affidavit in the trial court, which read:
Now comes Sarah Arline and after being first duly cautioned and sworn, s
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