Important Recent Illinois Case Law

Monday, September 8, 2014 | 0

NEW! Akemann v. Quinn et al., 4-13-0867, (08/26/2014): The Illinois Appellate Court ruled that an ousted Workers' Compensation Commission arbitrator had no vested right to serve the three-year term that the commission had selected him to fill once the Legislature changed the appointment process and the governor opted not to give him the post.

NEW! Dig Right In Landscaping v. Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, 1-13-0410 WC, (07/28/2014): The Illinois Appellate Court reversed a trial judge's decision to set aside an award of disability benefits to a worker for his claimed shoulder injury based on the judge's determination that the worker lacked credibility since credibility is for the Workers' Compensation Commission to decide.

NEW! Illinois State Treasurer v. Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, 117418, (07/2014): The Illinois Supreme Court will be weighing in on whether the state treasurer, as custodian of the state's Injured Workers' Benefit Fund, is exempt from the statutory requirement that any party seeking review of a decision by the Workers' Compensation Commission post an appeal bond.

Young v. Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission (Doncasters), 4-13-0392WC, (06/07/2014): The Illinois Appellate Court ruled that a factory worker who injured himself while reaching into a box had suffered a compensable injury that arose out of an employment-related risk.

Levato v. Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission (City of Chicago), 1-13-0297WC, (06/30/2014): The Appellate Court of Illinois ruled that a municipal employee was not entitled to permanent total disability benefits for a back injury, but questions as to whether he was entitled to wage-loss benefits remained, and the Workers' Compensation Commission had to answer.

Folta v. Ferro Engineering, 1-12-3219, (06/27/2014): An employee can sue his employer outside of the Workers' Compensation Act and the Workers' Occupational Diseases Act when the employee first learns of his injury after the expiration of the statute of repose under those acts, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled.

Sunny Hill of Will County v. The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, 3-13-0028WC, (06/26/2014): A nurse did not lose her entitlement to temporary total disability benefits for a shoulder and back injury by spending time helping her daughters at a flower shop that they owned, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled.

Michael v. Pella Products, 1-13-2695, (06/25/2014): The Appellate Court of Illinois ruled that an individual who works for a corporation that had a business relationship with another company could not maintain an action against that other company under the Illinois Employee Classification Act for refusing to treat him as its employee.

Carter v. Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, 5-13-0151WC, (06/09/2014): The five-year limitations period in the Illinois Workers' Occupational Diseases Act applies only to the specific condition of "coal miner's pneumoconiosis," and not any other respiratory disease that can be caused by exposure to coal dust, the state Appellate Court ruled.