Currently Browsing: Case Law News
Mar 1, 2017 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
If you’re injured while doing some type of recreational or voluntary activity at work, depending on the circumstances, you could have a workers’ compensation case! Here’s a look at a recent case involving a “voluntary” game of basketball:... Feb 24, 2017 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
If the act of bending over to perform a task is a risk distinctly associated with your job duties, and doing so leads to an injury, you could have a winning workers’ comp case! Here’s a look at a recent hard-fought case with this issue: Mark Mytnik worked... Feb 23, 2017 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
Here’s a very interesting case filed under Illinois’ Workers’ Occupational Diseases Act: June 2012: Kevin Clayton Jr. started working as an officer for Pontiac Correctional Center. July 2012: He had a negative skin test for tuberculosis (TB). His... Feb 22, 2017 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
If you are injured at work while doing something that: A.) Your employer might reasonably expect you to do to fulfill job duties, and B.) Exposes you to a risk of injury greater than that of the general public, then you have a chance to win a workers’ comp... Feb 21, 2017 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
If you are permanently and totally disabled due to a work injury, and your lawyer is able to demonstrate your inability to find employment, then you have some hope under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. Let’s take a quick look at a recent case... Feb 20, 2017 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
An interesting work injury problem is when it isn’t clear if a worker has a neck injury or a shoulder/arm injury. Injuries to these two body parts often result in very similar symptoms, and it can take time for doctors to sort things out. Here is a quick recap... Feb 17, 2017 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
If you are injured while on your break at work, it is possible for you to have a winning workers’ comp case. Here’s a quick recap of a recent slip and fall Illinois case: Leszek Janiszewski worked as an employee for Idea Furniture. His normal workday... Dec 21, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
A recent case demonstrates how the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission calculates permanent partial disability. In Mark Schrubbe v. Southern Wine & Spirits, Mr. Schrubbe worked as a driver who delivered wine and spirits. He would remove orders from... Nov 4, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
If you have a pre-existing condition, can you get workers’ comp benefits? Yes, you can. In the recent Illinois case of Sandra Johnson-Clemons v. Rush University Medical Center, this issue was raised. As in many cases, the specific evidence offered was key to... Oct 26, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
Can you get workers’ compensation for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS)? Yes, you can. Such cases are known as repetitive trauma work injuries. You can get workers’ comp if you can: Properly document your job duties. Have a qualified doctor provide a... Oct 24, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
If you slip and fall at work, can you get workers’ comp benefits? The short answer: Yes. The more complete answer: Yes, but it depends on certain key factors. One very important key is the ability to prove the facts that are claimed by the injured worker. The... Oct 14, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
I was recently talking to a friend of mine who told me that he got into an argument with a landlord about the stairs leading to his porch. They were, in his words, “the most uneven stairs on this green earth.” He was sure someone was going to break their neck. But, he... Oct 13, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
What happens if you’re attacked on the job? Can you get workers’ compensation benefits? The answer to this question depends on a number of different facts. The aggressor may be someone that the employee is exposed to by reason of the employment: Either... Oct 3, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
You work in a cafeteria. Your job involves reaching out and up, and even standing on your toes, to place a very light plate of food onto a glass partition. One day, while doing this, you hear a pop in your shoulder, and feel pain. Obvious work injury case, right?... Jul 18, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
An Illinois workers’ compensation case can be strongly affected by a positive drug test, and for obvious reasons. When a person is under the influence of any drug, performance can be affected in the areas of reaction time, judgment, coordination, vision, and... Jun 7, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
If you are injured at work through repetitive trauma, or, in other words, the act of repeating some action or actions which lead to physical problems, you may be entitled to benefits under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. “Repetition is... May 17, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
If your workers’ compensation claim ends, sometimes, it really isn’t over yet. It depends on the exact circumstances of your situation. One way this happens is when a condition at least in part causally related to your work injury ends up causing you serious medical... May 16, 2016 | Case Law News, Work Comp Info
In the recent Illinois workers’ compensation case of Kenneth Wright v. FCN Publishing Co. and State of Illinois, as Ex-Officio Custodian of the Injured Workers’ Benefit Fund: Mr. Wright was a staff photographer at the Final Call Newspaper, which is owned by FCN... May 3, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
In an Illinois work injury case, one of the more complicated things that can happen is for there to be, before a case resolves, a second accident (or intervening accident) that is not work related—such as a car accident completely outside of work—which may or may not... Apr 29, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
One of the most difficult workers’ comp cases is the “mental-mental” case, in which an injured worker sustains psychological injuries as a result of non-physical work-related factors, as discussed in a prior post (“Mental-Mental Injuries”). A recently... Apr 28, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
When you have 45 years of experience handling Illinois work injury and personal injury cases, you have heard about every kind of injury and mechanism of injury possible, and yet, there are always new ways I hear of injuries happening every day. A recent Illinois... Apr 27, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
In Illinois workers’ compensation, two of the more difficult cases involve slip and fall injuries and/or traveling employee injuries: For a slip and fall case, one key is that you have to be able to prove that the injured worker was exposed to a risk greater than the... Jan 13, 2016 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
An injured worker’s average weekly wage is one of the most important issues in a workers’ compensation claim. It dictates how much the injured worker will receive for temporary total disability payments (TTD), and what the permanent partial disability... Dec 31, 2015 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
The short answer is yes. In the recent decision of the Appellate Court, in the case of The City of Bridgeport v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, it was determined that the surviving spouse of an employee of the City was indeed entitled to... Dec 11, 2015 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
In the case of Bolingbrook Police Department v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, a police officer named Michael Toles injured his back on February 17, 2009, while lifting his duty bag from a location at his personal residence into his personal vehicle, prior... Jul 27, 2015 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
When an injured employee’s work-related accident results in a permanent disability, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act allows various options in terms of the benefits available. Depending on the severity of the injury and the consequences thereof, both physical... Jul 20, 2015 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act was enacted to provide a flow of benefits to compensate injured workers for lost wages and the loss of earning capacity in exchange for a bar on certain liabilities of employers. Included in this remedial legislation is a... Jul 14, 2015 | Case Law News, Work Comp Info
This interesting question was raised in the recent case of Jerry DiBenedetto v. City of Chicago, decided by the Appellate Court. After a trial before an arbitrator, Mr. DiBenedetto was awarded a wage differential of $982.67. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation... Jul 10, 2015 | Case Law News, Illinois Workers' Comp Info
Employers beware. Underreporting the number of workers employed allowed an insurance company for an Illinois employer to rescind the workers’ compensation policy of a construction company. On July 7, 2015, the Illinois Appellate Court Fourth District handed down a... Jun 30, 2015 | Case Law News, Work Comp Info
The protections of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act are not limited to those injured workers who sustain acute traumatic injuries. The Act also provides compensation to employees if the performance of that person’s job over the course of an extended period... Jun 26, 2015 | Case Law News, Work Comp Info
The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act provides some flexibility in terms of the benefits available to compensate an employee for her/his permanent disability. One of these options is referred to as wage differential benefits. An injured worker qualifies for these... Jun 24, 2015 | Case Law News, Work Comp Info
Injured workers can establish entitlement to Permanent Total Disability benefits under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act in one of three ways: (1) medical evidence showing an inability to work; (2) a diligent but unsuccessful job search; or (3) demonstrating... Jun 12, 2015 | Case Law News, Work Comp Info
The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act requires the employer to provide vocational rehabilitation services when an injured worker is unable to return to his/her pre-injury employment and s/he meets certain requirements. Vocational rehabilitation services can include... Jun 11, 2015 | Case Law News, Work Comp Info
Under certain circumstances, an injured worker can obtain Illinois workers’ compensation benefits for purely psychological injuries. These “mental-mental” cases occur when an injured worker sustains psychological injuries as a result of non-physical work-related... Jun 10, 2015 | Case Law News, Work Comp Info
The protection provided by the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act is not limited to those injured workers who were hurt in Illinois. The Act also states that if an employee’s job is based outside the State of Illinois, s/he may still be eligible for Illinois workers’... May 6, 2015 | Case Law News, Work Comp Info
Last week, the First District Appellate Court granted our Motion to Publish and issued its decision in Loyola University Medical Center v. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, 2015 IL (1st) 130984WC, as an opinion. The significance of this decision, and the... May 5, 2015 | Case Law News, Work Comp Info
On May 1, 2015, the Appellate Court of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission Division had occasion to answer this question. The injured worker filed an application under the Workers’ Compensation Act, seeking benefits for injuries sustained while she was... Apr 22, 2015 | Case Law News
The Illinois State Supreme Court filed a decision April 16, 2015 in the matter of Illinois State Treasurer versus the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. In this case, the State Treasurer was acting as the custodian for the Injured Workers Benefit Fund, and was...