Recent Illinois Appellate Court Decisions

December 2015

OLIVER V. IWCC

Petitioner's claim for Workers' Compensation benefits was denied by Respondent based on just a six-day delay in notice, along with the observations of his direct supervisor that petitioner displayed no sign of injury on the alleged loss date. The Arbitrator concluded the denial of benefits was unreasonable, and penalties were awarded. The Commission reversed the penalties award, but this decision was itself ultimately reversed by the Circuit Court.

Noting that: a) Respondent had made no investigation into petitioner's claim whatsoever; and, b) regardless, the Act itself gives petitioner 45 days to report the injury, the Appellate Court upheld the Circuit Court concluding there was no just reason to deny petitioner's claim. The Court determined Respondent had failed to discharge its burden of showing the denial was reasonable. Failing to make any kind of investigation, and then denying the matter solely for a six-day delay, was not only unreasonable but showed bad faith. As such, the Arbitrator's original award was reinstated.

ADCOCK V. IWCC

Petitioner did welding while seated in a rolling chair. He used his left leg to rotate the chair because of a prior injury to his right knee. As he propelled a turn of the chair on the loss date, he felt a pop in his left knee. The Appellate Court found that while the activity of turning in a chair is one also faced generally by the public, the case was still compensable. Even though "neutral" by their nature, the risks inhering in swiveling the chair presented dangers to petitioner to a much greater degree given the amount of welding required by his job and the number of movements required to perform the welding. As such, the petitioner's knee injury arose out of his employment and was compensable.