Ohio Supreme Court, 1980

State ex rel. Murphy v. Industrial Commission

Ohio Supreme Court · Decided March 19, 1980 · Brown, Celebrezze, Herbert, Holmes, Locher, Sweeney

61 Ohio St. 2d 312; 401 N.E.2d 923; 15 Ohio Op. 3d 386; 1980 Ohio LEXIS 661

Cases that cite this one

9 later published cases cite this decision.

State ex rel. Chapnick v. East Cleveland City School District Board of Education (Ohio 2001)
State ex rel. Chapnick v. E. Cleveland City School Dist. Bd. of Edn. (Ohio 2001)
State ex rel. Crumbley v. City of Cleveland (Ohio Ct. App. 2009)
State Ex Rel. Gerchak v. Tablack (Ohio Ct. App. 1997)
Hess Construction Co. v. Board of Education (Md. 1996)
State ex rel. New Wen, Inc. v. Marchbanks (Slip Opinion) (Ohio 2020)
State, Ex Rel. Brody v. Peltier (Ohio Ct. App. 1985)
State ex rel. Internatl. Assn. of Fire Fighters v. Barbish (Ohio Ct. App. 2024)
State ex rel. Bosch v. Industrial Commission (Ohio 1982)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam.

It is well established that the general rule in Ohio is that attorney fees are not recoverable as part of the costs of litigation in the absence of statutory authorization. See Sorin v. Bd. of Edn. (1976), 46 Ohio St. 2d 177. Appellant alleges that he is authorized to recover attorney’s fees by R. C. 4123.519 and 2731.11. Neither statute is applicable, however. R. C. 4123.519 authorizes the recovery of attorney’s fees in an appeal from the decision of the Industrial Commission. R. C. 2731.11 authorizes a court to award damages in a mandamus action. Appellant’s attorney’s fees are not recoverable as damages. See State, ex rel. Grosser, v. Boy (1976), 46 Ohio St. 2d 184.

Appellant alleges further that he is entitled to recover his attorney’s fees for the mandamus action because it was necessitated by the commission’s “bad faith, vexatious, wanton, obdurate or oppressive” actions. We hold, however, that appellant has not borne his burden of proof to establish any improper action by the commission. Thus, we do not decide whether such actions, if proven, would entitle one to recover attorney’s fees.

Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

Celebrezze, C. J., Herbert, W. Brown, P. Brown, Sweeney, Locher and Holmes, JJ., concur.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.