State ex rel. Galloway v. Industrial Commission
State ex rel. Galloway v. Industrial Commission
Opinion of the Court
The question first in importance in this, case is whether the Industrial Commission is authorized under its rule-making power conferred by Section 1465-44, General Code, to require an applicant for workmen’s compensation, as a condition precedent to a consideration of his claim, to sign and file a waiver providing as follows:
“By signing this application I expressly waive, on behalf of myself and of any person who shall'have any interest in this claim, all provisions of law forbidding any physician or other person who has heretofore attended or examined me, or who may hereafter attend or examine me, from disclosing any knowledge or information which they may thereby acquire.”
It is contended by counsel for the respondent that such a requirement may be prescribed and enforced
The decision of this court in the case of Industrial Commission v. Warnke, 131 Ohio St., 140, 2 N. E. (2d), 248, cannot be tortured into an authority for the proposition here advanced by respondent. The only question presented in that case and the only question decided, as shown by the syllabus, was whether one claiming compensation as a dependent of a deceased workman could waive tbe privilege conferred by tbe statute. Tbe court did not decide that Section 11494, General Code, bad been repealed by implication by the workmen’s compensation law and made no suggestion that waiver of tbe right could be compelled by the Industrial Commission.
If there is to be any modification of the provisions of this statute in the respect involved here or otherwise, that is the province of the legislative branch of the government. Davis v. State, ex rel. Kennedy, 127
Going now to the second question presented, we are of opinion that the claimant is entitled to present and prosecute both claims and is not required to elect at his peril upon which one he must rely. The applications disclose that injuries for which compensation is claimed were sustained in the same employment, at different times, but which one, if either, resulted in the permanent disability asserted may be difficult of ascertainment. The claimant should not have been required to dismiss either claim as a condition precedent to the prosecution of the other.
It follows that the judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The State, ex rel. Galloway v. Industrial Commission of Ohio
- Status
- Published