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Dirksing v. Blue Chip Architectural Products11/7/1994
t held that a charitable organization was immune from a wrongful death suit. In reaching this conclusion, it discussed Section 19a, stating:
"From this constitutional provision and those of Article II, it would appear that our General Assembly has broad power to enact laws relating to the liability or immunity therefrom of religious, charitable and educational institutions for injuries, or wrongful death, to beneficiaries caused by the negligence of employees, or requiring proof of gross neglect in such cases, or financially limiting damages for injuries so sustained, but it may not financially limit damages in wrongful death actions lawfully brought." Id. at 285, 10 O.O.2d at 337-338, 164 N.E.2d at 567. (The Supreme Court subsequently abolished the doctrine of charitable immunity on public policy grounds without mentioning Section 19a. Albtitton v. Neighborhood Centers Assn. for Child Development , 12 Ohio St.3d 210, 12 OBR 295, 466 N.E.2d 867.) See, also Kennedy v. Byers (1923), 107 Ohio St. 90, 96, 140 N.E. 630, 632-633 (Section 19a applies only to the amount of pecuniary damages recoverable).
Exclusivity provisions of workers' compensation statutes have repeatedly been found to be constitutional. Goetz v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. (C.A.9, 1983), 710 F.2d 561, 564. In Allen v. Eastman Kodak Co. (1976), 50 Ohio App.2d 216, 4 O.O.3d 179, 362 N.E.2d 665, the Tenth District Court of Appeals concluded that Ohio's workers' compensation laws, as enacted in its Constitution and its statutes, do not violate the Equal Protection or Due Process provisions of the United States Constitution. It quoted from New York Central RR. Co. v. White (1916), 243 U.S. 188, 37 S.Ct. 247, 61 L.Ed. 667, in which the United States Supreme Court found the exclusivity provisions of the New York workers' compensation laws to be constitutional. In White, the court stated:
"The close relation of the rules governing responsibility as between employer and employee to the fundamental rights of liberty and property is, of course, recognized. But those rules, as guides of conduct, are not beyond alteration by legislation in the public interest. No person has a vested interest in any rule of law, entitling him to insist that it shall remain unchanged for his benefit. * * * The common law bases the employer's liability for injuries to the employee upon the ground of negligence; but negligence is merely the disregard of some dutsimposed by law; and the nature and extent of the duty may be modified by legislation, with corresponding change in the test of negligence." (Citations omitted.) Id, at 197-198, 37 S.Ct. at 250, 61 L.Ed. at 672.
While not addressing the specific issue raised in this appeal, Ohio courts have used the exclusivity provisions of the workers' compensation laws to preclude third-party claims. The case most on point is State ex rel. Allied Chemical Corp. v. Earhart (1974), 37 Ohio St.2d 153, 66 O.O.2d 313, 310 N.E.2d 230, in which the employee's mother filed a wrongful death suit against a complying employer. When the employer's motion to dismiss was overruled by the trial court, it sought a writ of prohibition from the court of appeals to prevent the trial judge from assuming jurisdiction over the wrongful death action. The court of appeals denied the writ. The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the appellate court and granted the writ, concluding that, pursuant to Section 35, Article II, the lights of the employee or the employee's legal representative are determined by the Industrial Commission. Courts are without jurisdiction to entertain any action for damages for injury or death by the employee or the employee's representative against a complying employer. Id. at 155-156, 66 O
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