Important Recent Case Law for Illinois

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 | 0

NEW! Burcham v. West Bend Mutual Insurance Company, 2-10-1035, (11/21/2011): A truck driver may pursue damages not covered by his workers' compensation claim by suing his employer's auto insurer under its uninsured motorist policy, an Illinois appellate court ruled. 

NEW! Owners Insurance Co. v. Seamless Gutter Corp., 1-08-2924, (11/14/2011): A subcontractor's insurer did not owe a duty to a project's general contractor because of an exclusion barring coverage for employees' bodily injuries, an Illinois appellate court ruled.

NEW! Bielskis v. Louisville Ladder, 10-1194, (11/18/2011): A carpenter's products liability suit against the manufacturer of a mini-scaffold failed because his expert gave inadmissible testimony.

NEW! Nowak v. City of Country Club Hills, 111838, (12/01/2011): A city must pay the entire health insurance premium for a police officer and his family once it is decided that he is permanently disabled and never returning to work, the Supreme Court of Illinois ruled.

NEW! Jacobo v. IWCC, 3-10-0807WC, (11/16/2011): The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission should have penalized an employer for waiting until after an appeal was completed before making its first payment of undisputed benefits, an appellate court ruled.

Arcelor Mittal Steel v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission and Robert Common, 1-10-2180WC, (11/07/11): An arbitrator did not err by including scheduled overtime and routine production bonuses when calculating his average weekly wage, the Illinois 1st District Appellate Court ruled.

Mason v. John Boos & Company, 5-10-0399, (10/28/2011): A staffing agency's noncompliance with the Employee Leasing Company Act did not bar it from using an exclusive remedy defense, an Illinois appellate court ruled in a decision that has an employee's attorney questioning the effectiveness of the act.

Shafer v. the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, 4-10-0505WC, (10/28/2011): Testimony and medical records helped establish that a claimant was temporarily totally disabled due to a work-related back injury, ruled the Appellate Court of Illinois Fourth District Workers' Compensation Commission Division.

Harrison v. Addington, 3-10-0810, (09/06/2011): An employer's managers, security, and human resources staff are not liable for defamation or other claims filed by an ex-manager who faced rape accusations, because he had created a risk of workplace violence and financial liability by having sex with subordinate employees.