Category: Workers Compensation

In Illinois several appellate court cases had held that a petitioner in a workers compensation claim must show that he or she had been exposed to a risk of injury to a degree greater than the public in order to prove a compensable accident.  The Supreme Court in Illinois has now been corrected that rule by holding that an injury victim need only prove he or she got injured and work-related accident. The case is called McAllister vs Illinois Workers Compensation Commission. This case applies to common everyday activities like standing from the kneeling position, bending, reaching, or twisting.  In older      Read more…

Permanent total disability in Illinois worker’s compensation claims means that a person is entitled to total disability for life. If someone has a permanent total disability. they are entitled to two-thirds of their average weekly wage for life. This is much like temporary total disability, but it is permanent. What is “Person as a Whole” Designation? Many people confuse total permanent disability with the designation of the “Person as A Whole”, which is 500 weeks of disability. Five-hundred weeks of disability is 9.6 years; whereas, permanent total disability lasts for an injured worker’s life. How do I get permanent total disability?      Read more…

In Illinois Worker’s Compensations victims are entitled to two doctors and their referral chains. When we get cases in, often workers have already used one of their choices. We have had many people come in who have been referred to a doctor of the employer’s choice. When the employer does this they often misrepresent or suggest to the worker that they are required to go to these particular doctors. The selected doctor is often pro insurance company and not very friendly to injury victims. This selection can have a huge impact on a person’s case by the time the case      Read more…

The courts in Dukich vs. Illinois Worker’s Compensation Commission recently misapplied, in my opinion, the law, as it applies to falls on premises. The losses previously been that wherever there is a fall on premises, so long as it arises from a defect, like snow, or ice, that the fall is compensable. This often occurs as people are coming to and going from work. Dukich acknowledges these cases but makes a strange distinction. The worker was going to lunch when she fell in a parking lot that was wet from rain. The arbitrator awarded benefits. The Worker’s Compensation commission reversed the finding      Read more…

In Chlada vs Illinois Workers Compensation Commission the Workers Compensation Commission ruled that a person can get a wage loss differential and a permanent total claim.  The case involved two injuries.  The first injury resulted in the person being paid less than before the injury. After the second injury the worker could not work at all. In Chlada the injured worker had an injury to his low back first, lifting beer as a beer truck driver. The worker got hurt again on October 23, 2003, when he hurt his neck working in the warehouse.  The worker filed two claims, one for each      Read more…

In worker’s compensation claims employees and employers typically put medical records of the petitioner and evidence. The doctors are often not usually called as witnesses.  Recent changes to the Worker’s Compensation Act provided for a simple method of entering records into evidence. Medical records are typically allowed into evidence if they are subpoenaed by a party. However, doctors’ notes that are prepared for litigation purposes are typically hearsay and not allowed. In that context, the case entitled RG Construction Services vs the Illinois Worker’s Compensation Commission came up.  In RG Construction the petitioner injured his knee at work when he fell off the stilts      Read more…

If the petitioner has two cases the Illinois Workers Compensation Commission can award both a permanent partial disability award and a wage loss differential award. Go here to see a video of me discussing the case Deerfield case with TJ Hart on Let’s Talk Law. In the case entitled Deerfield vs the Illinois Worker’s Compensation Commission the appellate court ruled that a petitioner who is injured twice at work can receive award for both permanent partial disability and wage loss. In Deerfield, both cases were consolidated because they both involve the same workplace and the same injured worker. The workplace (Respondent) tried to argue that Petitioner      Read more…