Court Rulings

Death benefits; prospective dependency; partial dependency; dependency in fact; incapacitated from earning. On objections to the magistrate's decision recommending a limited writ of mandamus ordering respondent, the Industrial Commission, to partially vacate its order and issue a new order determining whether relator, the adult daughter of a deceased employee, was partly dependent-in-fact under R.C.4123.59(D)(2) using the proper legal standards. Objections overruled, and writ of mandamus granted in part and denied in part. Respondent had the discretion to determine that relator was not incapacitated from earning based on evidence of relator's actual sustained employment. Respondent must determine whether petitioner was partially dependent in fact based on the relevant facts of the case rather than the standard for establishing a legal presumption of whole dependency.

The Ohio Board of Tax Appeals ("BTA") did not err in affirming the Tax Commissioner of Ohio's final determination, ordering remission to appellee, The HTH Partners, LLC ("HTH"), of taxes, interest, and penalties for tax years 2016 and 2017 with respect to property owned by HTH. Although appellant argued that the Tax Commissioner lacked authority to grant remission from prior years unless it first found that the property was subject to exemption for the year in which the application was filed, nothing in R.C. 5715.25, 5713.08, or 5713.081 requires an applicant to prevail on the request for exemption in the tax year during which the application was filed to activate the Tax Commissioner's discretionary authority to consider the request for remission for the previous three years. The BTA applied the plain and unambiguous language of the relevant statutes, giving effect to the provisions of each. The BOE did not demonstrate error based on the BTA's consideration of evidence regarding tax year 2019 .