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Gibson v. Meadow Gold Dairy3/15/2000
Cite as Gibson v. Meadow Gold Dairy (2000), 88 Ohio St.3d 201.
Workers' compensation - R.C. 4123.65 requirement that settlements of workers' compensation claims against self-insured employers be in writing and not be effective for thirty days after signing applies to claims on appeal to a common pleas court under R.C. 4123.512 as well as to claims still at the administrative level.
The requirement of R.C. 4123.65 that settlements of workers' compensation claims against self-insured employers be in writing and not be effective for thirty days after signing applies to claims on appeal to a common pleas court under R.C. 4123.512 as well as to claims still at the administrative level.
Submitted November 3, 1999
This case presents the question whether a common pleas court may enforce an oral settlement of an appeal under R.C. 4123.512 between a workers' compensation claimant and a self-insured employer. The dispute arose in 1995 during the pendency of such an appeal filed by claimant Don Gibson in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, seeking allowance of additional conditions. During the discovery phase of the case, Gibson reached an oral agreement with his former employer, appellant Meadow Gold Dairy, a self-insured employer, to settle the case for $5,000. Approximately three weeks later, after Meadow Gold had sent Gibson a stipulation of settlement and release for him to execute, Meadow Gold learned that Gibson refused to sign the paperwork, thereby withdrawing his consent to the settlement agreement.
Meadow Gold moved for an order directing Gibson to sign the settlement agreement, arguing that Gibson had agreed to its terms on the record and, therefore, the court could enforce the agreement under the authority of Mack v. Poulson Rubber Co. (1984), 14 Ohio St.3d 34, 14 OBR 335, 470 N.E.2d 902. Gibson countered that R.C. 4123.65(C) required a signed agreement followed by a thirty-day waiting period before the settlement could become binding. The trial court granted the motion and ordered Gibson to execute the agreement and carry out its terms. When Gibson failed to comply with the order, the trial court dismissed the case. Gibson appealed the dismissal, arguing that there had not been a binding, enforceable settlement agreement between himself and Meadow Gold.
The Franklin County Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's decision. In its opinion, it stated that R.C. 4123.65 controls settlement of claims even when the common pleas court has jurisdiction of a pending claim pursuant to R.C. 4123.512. Meadow Gold appealed to this court, and the court of appeals certified a conflict between its decision and a decision by the Wayne County Court of Appeals in Johnson v. A.R.E., Inc. (Jan. 21, 1998), Wayne App. Nos. 97CA0005 and 97CA0006, unreported, 1998 WL 46801. The cause is now before this court upon the allowance of a discretionary appeal and upon our determination that a conflict exists.
R.C. 4123.65 regulates the settlement of workers' compensation claims by providing for administrative review to protect parties against settlements that are "clearly unfair" or that constitute "gross miscarriage of justice." R.C. 4123.65(D). The statute provides that " o settlement agreed to * * * by a self-insuring employer and the self-insuring employer's employee shall take effect until thirty days after * * * the self-insuring employer and employee sign the final settlement agreement," and further provides that " uring the thirty-day period, * * * the employer or employee, for self-insuring settlements, may withdraw consent to the settlement."
R.C. 4123.65(C).
It also directs "every" self-insuring employ
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