High court OKs attorney fees after successful appeal

A divided Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday held that an appellate court did not err in remanding an issue of attorney fees to a trial court after it affirmed the lower court’s judgment.

“In a workers’ compensation case, the worker may move for attorney fees after obtaining an appellate judgment on the merits,” the court said in its ruling in Shields et al. v Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. “Given that workers’ compensation law is to be interpreted liberally in favor of employees, we caution that our opinion does not necessarily apply to other areas of law.”

The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation accepted Michael Shields’ claim for a left shoulder strain suffered while working for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority in 2015. In 2017, the BWC denied his request for benefits for a flow-through injury to his right shoulder.

A jury in May 2022 found he was entitled to work comp benefits. The 8th District Court of Appeals affirmed in April 2023.

Mr. Shields then filed a motion with the appellate court for $26,211 in attorney fees or, alternatively, an order remanding the case to the trial court to determine attorney fees.

The Transit Authority opposed the motion, arguing that the appellate court lacked jurisdiction. The RTA argued that Mr. Shields never asked the trial court for attorney fees and had not filed a cross-appeal from the order, meaning he waived the issue.

The appeals court determined that Mr. Shields should be permitted to recover attorney fees for the appeal because he prevailed.

The Supreme Court agreed, writing that Transit Authority’s argument that Mr. Shields should be precluded from collecting attorney fees because he did not request them before the appeals court issued its final judgment ignores the fact that there is no timeline in the statute mandating that attorney fees be taxed against the employer when a claimant prevails in a dispute, the court said.

One judge dissented on the ground of jurisdiction.

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