“Industrial Commission of Ohio vs. Lena Ware.

This action was filed originally in the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County, Ohio, on appeal from an adverse finding of the Industrial Commission on an application for the allowance of compensation to Lena Ware, plaintiff below, for the death of her husband. The appeal was filed under the provisions of Section 1465-90 General Code.

The deceased husband of the defendant in error was employed by a contractor who had his principal place of business in the city of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, and who was engaged in doing certain contract work in the city of Covington, Kentucky. The Industrial Commission refused to allow any compensation to said Lena Ware on the ground that she was not dependent upon her said deceased husband at the time of his injury and death.

The case was tried to the court in the Court of Common Pleas, and it found in favor of the plaintiff. The Industrial Commission took the case on error to the Court of Appeals, and that court reversed the Court of Common Pleas, holding that the Court of Common Pleas had no jurisdiction, since under Section 1465-90 the appeal from an adverse finding of the Industrial Commission must be filed in the Common Pleas Court of the county wherein the injury was inflicted, and since the injury and death occurred in the State of Kentucky, this provision of the appeal section would not permit the filing of an appeal in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas. Thereupon, by permission of the Supreme Court the case was taken there on error, and it reversed the Court of Appeals in its holding that it had no jurisdiction, and remanded the case to the Court of Appeals for hearing on other alleged errors in the record.

The Supreme Court did not hand down any opinion in this case, and therefore there is no record of its views on the very important question to the extra territorial effect of the Workmen’s Compensation Law of Ohio. This ease is still pending in the Court of Appeals of Hamilton County.”

Reference Data:

Ohio General Statistics, Vol. 4, by Ohio Secretary of State, 1919, pages 126-7