High Court says agency wrongfully took money

By Andrew Welsh-Huggins

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Attorneys for injured workers suing the state say an Ohio Supreme Court ruling paves the way for the state to return $53 million wrongfully taken from workers. The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation disputes the figure.

The court ruled that the bureau wrongfully took money from hundreds of injured workers under a law that was previously declared unconstitutional.

That declaration came in a unanimous ruling Wednesday involving the proper jurisdiction for lawsuits alleging money taken improperly by the state. The court ruled such claims belong in Common Pleas courts, not the Ohio Court of Claims in Columbus.

The money was taken from 1993 to 2001 using a state law that allowed the bureau to claim repayment for injury benefits if workers also received private insurance settlements.

The bureau estimates it took $35 million to $50 million from about 10,000 workers, said Jeremy Jackson, a bureau spokesman. It does not expect to pay anywhere close to $53 million.

The court ruled unanimously in favor of a Cleveland man who received both state benefits and an insurance payment for a work-related injury.

Angel Santos has received $121,941 in benefits from the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation for his injury and another $500,000 in a settlement with his employer, according to Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling.

Santos sued after the bureau sought to collect the money it paid. The bureau said workers like Santos had been paid twice for the same injury: once by the state, once by insurance companies.

In 2001, the Ohio Supreme Court declared a portion of the law allowing the practice un-constitutional. The bureau stopped taking the money and began pushing a new version of the law.

Wednesday’s ruling reversed a decision by the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals in Cleveland that said the claims by Santos and others could be decided only by the Ohio Court of Claims.

Santos’ lawsuit "is not a civil suit for money damages but rather an action to correct the unjust enrichment" of the workers’ compensation bureau, Justice Maureen O’Connor said.

As a result, a court of common pleas has jurisdiction, she said.

CLASS COUNSEL:

          DWORKEN & BERNSTEIN CO. L.P.A.
                Patrick J. Perotti, Esq.
                Patrick T. Murphy, Esq.

          BASHEIN & BASHEIN CO. L.P.A.
               W. Craig Bashein, Esq.
               Paul W. Flowers, Esq.

         DYER, GAROFALO, MANN & SCHULTZ
              Ronald Maurer, Esq.
              John Smalley, Esq.