State ex rel. Ormet Corp. v. Industrial Commission

Although Commissioner Smith did not attend claimant’s permanent total disability hearing or review any transcript or summary of the proceedings, he nonetheless voted on claimant’s application for permanent total disability benefits. We must determine whether his participation violated due process. For the reasons to follow, we find that it did.

The parties concentrate on Morgan v. United States (1936), 298 U.S. 468, which arose from a Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) inquiry under the Packers and Stockyards Act (“Act”) into market agencies’ rates for buying and selling livestock. In that…