Court Refuses to Derail Class Action Against BWC

An Ohio appeals court refused to toss out a class-action lawsuit that charges the Bureau of Workers' Compensation misled disability recipients about the value of their settlements. The main allegation is that the bureau misled hundreds of permanent total disability recipients by persuading them to accept lump-sum payments that were worth substantially less than their actual value, according to the opinion released Thursday by the 8th Appellate District Court. A group of disability recipients, led by Pietro Cristino, filed a suit in mid-2001 against the bureau and after legal wrangling -- i...