State ex rel. Riter v. Industrial Commission

In 1991, appellant-claimant, Velma J. Riter, f.k.a. Mayle, broke her thumb while working for appellee Timken Company. Five surgeries later, it became clear that claimant’s interphalangeal (“IP”) joint was ankylosed and could not bend. Appellee Industrial Commission of Ohio found an eleven percent permanent partial disability as a result.

In 1993, claimant sought a scheduled award for loss of use of her thumb under R.C. 4123.57(B). A district hearing officer’s award for only one-half, not total, loss prompted appeals that eventually led to a hearing before a commission deputy. He prepared an…