 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Legris v. Industrial Commission7/31/2001
UNPUBLISHED
Claimant Terry Legris appeals from the order of the circuit court of McLean County reversing a decision of the Illinois Industrial Commission (Commission). The arbitrator found the claim was untimely and barred by the statute of limitations. With one commissioner dissenting, the Commission reversed and awarded claimant $329.75 per week for 37.5 weeks for permanent partial disability to the extent of 7.5% loss of the man as a whole. 820 ILCS 305/8(d)(2) (West 1998). The respondent employer is Interlake Material Handling.
The issues are whether (1) "compensation" as used in the limitation provision of section 6(d) of the Workers' Compensation Act (Act) (820 ILCS 305/6(d) (West 1998)) includes payment of medical expenses incurred as a result of an accidental injury; (2) the payment of medical bills relating to an accidental injury by a workers' compensation carrier extends the statute of limitations pursuant to section 8(j) of the Act (820 ILCS 305/8(j) (West 1998)); and (3) the Commission's finding that respondent is estopped from raising the statute of limitations is against the manifest weight of the evidence. We reverse the order of the circuit court and reinstate the Commission's decision.
Claimant's application for adjustment of claim alleged an accidental injury to his back on July 2, 1989. The application for adjustment of claim was filed on February 3, 1997. It is undisputed that claimant treated with multiple physicians, including company doctor Dr. John Purnell and doctors to whom he referred claimant, from shortly after the date of the accident in 1989 through 1996. It is also undisputed that, until August 1996, respondent paid all of claimant's medical expenses by submitting them to his worker compensation carrier under the same claim number assigned to claimant in 1989. In December 1996, claimant received a letter from Eric Buttner, a claim supervisor with respondent's workers' compensation carrier, referring to a telephone conversation he had with claimant in August 1996 in which claimant was advised that the back injury would no longer be covered under workers' compensation. The letter also asked claimant to contact him regarding possible settlement. Subsequent to that letter, respondent refused payment of claimant's medical expenses.
The arbitrator found that the statute of limitations expired on July 2, 1992, the application for adjustment of claim was not timely filed, and respondent made no representations that misled or prevented claimant from filing the application for adjustment of claim in a timely manner. The Commission, finding payment of medical benefits amounted to "compensation" within the meaning of section 6(d) of the Act, concluded that the application for adjustment of claim was timely filed because it was filed within "three" years of the last payment of medical benefits in August 1996. The Commission also found that respondent was estopped from raising the statute of limitations defense because it engaged in a course of conduct that lulled claimant into a false sense of security by making continuous and repeated payments of medical benefits through the workers' compensation carrier for seven years and giving claimant a workers' compensation claim number for payment of bills. The circuit court found the Commission's interpretation of "compensation" in section 6(d) of the Act was incorrect and that the Commission's finding on estoppel was against the manifest weight of the evidence.
The first issue is whether "compensation" as used in the limitation provision of section 6(d) of the Act (820 ILCS 305/6(d) (West 1998)) includes payment of medical expenses incurred as a result of an accidental injury. Section 6(d)
Page 1 2 3 Illinois Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|