Must Suit Claiming Improper Withholding from Workers Compensation Benefits be Brought In Court of Claims?

Powell Measles et al. v. Industrial Commission of Ohio et al., Case no. 2010-0393

8th District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County)

ISSUE: When a workers' compensation claimant has been granted lifetime Permanent Total Disability (PTD) benefits by the Industrial Commission, and the claimant receives a Lump Sum Advancement (LSA) in which he accepts a partial lump sum advance of benefits in exchange for an agreed reduction in subsequent bi-weekly payments he will receive from the state, if the claimant later sues alleging that the state unlawfully withheld benefits after it had recovered the full value of the LSA plus interest, is that suit a contract law claim seeking money damages which must be brought in the Ohio Court of Claims, or is such a complaint one that seeks only "equitable relief" and therefore may be brought in a court of common pleas?

BACKGROUND: A group of permanently and totally disabled workers including Powell Measles, Vada Measles and Ann Pocaro of Cleveland filed a class action lawsuit against the Ohio Industrial Commission and Bureau of Workers Compensation in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.