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State ex rel. Cobble v. Indus. Comm.

OhioJune 13, 2001No. 1999-1872Cited 3 times
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Case Details

Status — whether other courts must follow this ruling
Published
Procedural Posture — the stage the case had reached
appeal

Related Laws

No specific laws identified for this ruling.

Claim Types

Wage Theft

Outcome

The Ohio Supreme Court affirmed the Industrial Commission's decision that retroactive compensation adjustments following average weekly wage recalculation are limited to two years prior to the claimant's recalculation motion, rejecting the claimant's argument that the two-year period should run from his original 1987 application.

Excerpt

Workers' compensation—Retroactive compensation adjustment following an average weekly wage recalculation is limited to the two years prior to the claimant's recalculation motion.

What This Ruling Means

# State ex rel. Cobble v. Industrial Commission Summary ## What Happened A worker named Cobble filed a workers' compensation claim in Ohio. At some point, the amount of compensation he received was recalculated based on a new determination of his average weekly wage—the figure used to calculate benefits. Cobble wanted back pay covering a longer period before he requested this recalculation. ## What the Court Decided The Ohio court ruled that workers can only receive back pay for up to two years before they file a motion asking for their compensation to be recalculated. Any compensation adjustments beyond that two-year window cannot be recovered. ## Why This Matters for Workers This decision limits how far back workers can go when correcting payment errors or wage calculation mistakes in workers' compensation cases. If a worker discovers their benefits were calculated incorrectly, they have a time limit—essentially a two-year window from when they request the fix—to recover any underpayment. Workers should act promptly if they believe their benefits are wrong, since waiting longer could mean losing money they're owed.

This summary was generated to explain the ruling in plain English and is not legal advice.

Browse more:Wage Theft cases

Similar Rulings

State ex rel. Bonnlander v. Hamon (Slip Opinion)
OhioSep 2020

Workers' compensation—Whether a claimant has voluntarily retired or has abandoned the workforce is a question of fact for the Industrial Commission to determine—A court must uphold a factual determination by the commission so long as it is supported by some evidence in the record, regardless of whether evidence supporting a contrary conclusion also exists, even if the contrary evidence is greater in quality or quantity—Court of appeals' judgment affirmed.

Defendant Win
Hamon
Ohio Ct. App.Sep 2019

Under State ex rel. McKee v. Union Metal Corp., 150 Ohio St.3d 223, 2017-Ohio-5541, ¶ 9-11, the commission's order denying permanent total disability compensation was supported by some evidence in the record showing that relator voluntarily abandoned the workforce and was therefore not eligible for benefits. As a result, relator was not entitled to relief in mandamus. Id. at ¶ 11. Objections sustained writ denied.

Defendant Win
State ex rel. Pritt v. Indus. Comm.
Ohio Ct. App.Mar 2018

Because some evidence in the record supports the commission finding relator is medically capable of engaging in sustained remunerative employment of a sedentary nature and the relevant nonmedical disability factors do not preclude relator from currently engaging in such employment, the fact that the commission incorrectly relied on relator's non-allowed conditions as a basis for denying PTD in a separate portion of the order does not constitute grounds for the granting of a writ of mandamus. Writ denied.

Defendant Win
Elizabeth F. Smith v. First Union National Bank
1st CircuitJan 2000
Mixed Result
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
2nd CircuitSep 2014
Defendant Win

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