Synopsis: IL Appellate Court, WC Division Awards WC Death Benefits From Passing in year 2006 in Odd Dispute.  Editor’s comment: In Cronk v. IWCC, the IL Appellate Court awarded IL WC Death Benefits to the son of a construction manager who passed 18 years ago!! The facts indicate Decedent Cronk worked for Kimball Hill Homes as a construction manager. He complained of difficulty breathing shoveling snow at a build site in December 2006. Co-workers summoned paramedics, and Cronk went into cardiac arrest in front of them while they were at work. Decedent was taken to the hospital and passed there. The coroner…
Continue Reading May 2024; Odd IL WC Death Claim–Still Pending Decades after Passing of Decedent; Another Anti-Lawyer Ruling from our Appellate Court, WC Division and more

Synopsis: Successful Appellate Outcome for Defense Attorney Lindsay Vanderford and KCB&A! Court Rejects Petitioner’s Challenge to Appointment of Arbitrator and Ruling on His WC Claim. Editor’s Comment: Please note this ruling isn’t “final” and might be subject to rehearing or a Petition for Certiorari to the Illinois Supreme Court. That said, we do feel the litigation will end. In Osman v. IWCC, No. 2-23-0180WC, issued 03/18/2024, the Illinois Appellate Court, WC Division rejected the worker’s challenges to the appointment of the Arbitrator in his case and upheld a determination the worker failed to prove causation between a subsequent condition and a work-related accident. Claimant Osman…
Continue Reading 3-25-2024; Successful Appellate Outcome for Atty Vanderford and KCBA!; Birth Defect Litigation Against Employers is Not Blocked by WC Exclusive Remedy and more

Synopsis: So, Can We Deny All Idiopathic Falls in IL WC? Not So Fast, the Devil is in the Details! Opinion and comments by John Campbell, J.D.  Editor’s comment: This Month, We Review the decision in Chicago Board of Education v. IWCC IL APP (1st) 1-22-0341WC (issued March 17, 2023) Although we have seen recent rulings where idiopathic (or completely unexplained) falls are denied under IL WC as non-compensable, the Workers’ Compensation Division of the Illinois Appellate Court finds an Idiopathic fall may STILL be compensable where the work environment was a contributing factor to the injury.  Petitioner worked as a…
Continue Reading 3-8-24; Law Update; Chicago School Teacher's Challenging Fall Found Compensable; WC Claims Appear to be "Doubling" into Civil Rights Claims and more

Synopsis: AS WE ARE NOW IN 2024—IL WC BENEFIT RATES STILL SPIRAL UP ENDLESSLY??—SHAWN BIERY’S UPDATED IL WC RATE SHEETS AVAILABLE FOR ACCURATE WC RATES AND RESERVING!!!  Editor’s comment: The IWCC has posted a new TTD rate of almost $2,000 a week going into 2024 and max PPD RATE is now well over $1,000. FYI, Illinois WC rates have updated again so please be aware of the New IL WC Rates or your claims handling will suffer and penalties may ensue. Please also note that the IL State Min Wage is now $14 per hour and will rise another dollar on New…
Continue Reading 2-4-2024; Shawn Biery's New IL WC Rate Sheet is Out–Max PPD rate is up to $1,024.87 for DOL 7/1/23 and later–check your reserves; John Campbell-Tim O'Gorman Chronicle New IL HR Laws and More

Synopsis: A Pirate Turns 80–Former Alderman Ed Burke’s Political Career and Role as a Municipal WC Manager Comes to an Abrupt End. Editor’s comment: I admit I stole the idea for the title of this piece from the song by the late and great Jimmy Buffett who recently transitioned to a new and hopefully better place.  What Did Former Alderman Ed Burke Have To Do With Workers’ Comp? Few observers in the U.S. and Illinois workers’ comp industry know that former Alderman Burke “ran” the City of Chicago’s workers’ comp and police/fire disability programs for decades. In my personal opinion, he did…
Continue Reading 1/7/2024; A Pirate Turns 80–Thoughts on former Alderman Ed Burke; An Unusual Wage Diff Ruling That Ignores an Earlier Ruling Requiring Voc Assessments; New IRS Mileage Rate Posted; Herb Franks RIP

Synopsis: Wage Differential Claims Are A-Changing in Illinois Workers’ Comp. Editor’s comment: I consider this a “must-read” for IL WC risk managers, claims handlers and attorneys/hearing officers. The information I am doing my best to provide is going to change reserves, lump sums and all handling of one of Illinois’ biggest WC claims—wage loss differential under Section 8(d-1) of the IL WC Act. I am fairly sure we are going to need computers to accurately set reserves. I don’t believe many of the troops, on both sides of this matrix, are aware of the new battlefield that may be wage loss differential…
Continue Reading 11-20-2023; Wage Loss Differential Claims are A-Changing in IL WC; Injured Worker Can't Bring Civil Claim Against Borrowing Employer, Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Synopsis: The Illinois Appellate Court, WC Division Ruled on a “Future Medical” Issue, Remanding to See if a “Life Care Plan” for up to $17.8 Million is Reasonable.Editor’s comment: In Montgomery v. IWCC, No. 3-21-0604WC, 11/15/2022, published, our IL WC Appellate Court ruled the IL Workers’ Compensation Commission exceeded its authority in setting conditions for the provision of future medical treatment for an injured worker.This ruling strongly emphasizes one issue with leaving medical rights completely open in any IL WC claim—I feel this decision to leave medical rights open was “easy” until it turned ugly and resulted in years of…
Continue Reading 10-31-2023; Halloween Edition!! IL Appellate Court Rules on Future Medical and Remands for Ruling on Multi-Million Dollar "Life Care Plan;" NLRB New…

Synopsis: AS WE HEAD TO 2024—IL WC BENEFIT RATES STILL SPIRAL UP WITH THE HUMIDITY??—SHAWN BIERY’S UPDATED IL WC RATE SHEETS AVAILABLE FOR ACCURATE RATES AND RESERVING!!!  Editor’s comment: The IWCC hasn’t posted a new TTD rate going into 2024 but other WC rates stayed the same. Our PPD max doesn’t update until 2024 regardless, so find attached the new SRB rate chart.  FYI, Illinois WC rates have updated again so please be aware of the New IL WC Rates or your claims handling will suffer and penalties may ensue. Please also note that the IL State Min Wage is now $13…
Continue Reading 8-31-2023; Shawn Biery, Esq. Issues His Updated IL WC Rate Chart; Crossing Guard Gets Benefits From Fall-Down in Public Parking Before Getting to Work and more

Synopsis: Indiana Worker’s Compensation Board is Testing a new PPI Submission Portal Starting Now, 8/14/23. Article and analysis by our IN WC Defense Team Leader, Kevin Boyle, J.D.Editor’s comment: IWCB is doing voluntary testing of their PPI Submission Portal for the rest of August 2023, and it will be mandatory by October 1, 2023.Today, August 14th, 2023, the Indiana Worker’s Compensation Board will begin testing a PPI Submission Portal. The Board anticipated that it will be available for use by all adjusters on September 1, 2023. Your Indiana adjusters may receive email blasts before the “go live” date. The portal will only be…
Continue Reading 8-14-23; Indiana WC Board Testing New PPI Portal Starting Right Now; IL Appellate Court, WC Div Orders Some Medical For Police Officer But Not All; IL WC Arbitrators Coming/Going and more

Synopsis: New IL Law Allows Observer(s) Attendance at Work Comp IME’s with Video. Editor’s comment: IL SB 1748 was signed by the Governor and is now law. We assume but cannot confirm the driving force behind this change is ITLA or the IL Trial Lawyers Association that is one of the biggest political donor organizations in this State. The new legislation says: Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by changing Sections 2-1003 and 2-1007.1 as follows:     (735 ILCS 5/2-1003)  (from Ch. 110, par. 2-1003)    Sec. 2-1003. Discovery and depositions.    (a) Discovery, such as admissions of fact and of genuineness of…
Continue Reading 8-10-2023; New Law Allows Observer Attendance at WC IME's with Video; Staffing Agency management in our State Just Changed with New Law; Murder at Arby's–Does WC Act Block Negligent Hiring Claim

Synopsis: Real-Life Lawyers remain smarter than Artificial Intelligence!! Well… some of us anyway. Thoughts/comments by John P. Campbell, J.D.Editor’s Comment: We have all seen and read recent reports of how Artificial Intelligence programs like ChatGBT will revolutionize many areas of business. There are even predictions such technology will drive many folks in various industries out of work with the breakthrough program’s amazing ability to put together essays, arguments and otherwise compile data in an organized manner.Well, you may not want to fire your attorneys and send your lap-top to court for you just yet….A federal judge in New York City…
Continue Reading 7-5-2023; "Artifical Intelligence" Comes With Less-Than-Intelligent Programming; New IN WC Rates and more