Opinion ID: 1344517
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: defaults

Text: (a) When a party against whom an award or judgment for affirmative relief is sought has failed to plead or otherwise defend, within the time prescribed by these rules, the Commission shall enter his default. Said entry of default shall be made whether by motion of the parties seeking the entry or by the Commission on its own motion. (b) Following the entry of such default by the Commission, the Commission shall then set the matter for hearing as in other cases, and the party seeking a default award or judgment shall be required to establish a prima facie case to support his application for such award or judgment. Proof of medical facts may be made by the contents of the Board's file. (c) For good cause shown the Commission may set aside an award or judgment by default. An application to set aside the award or judgment must be made within 20 days of the date thereof. Industrial Commission, Rules of Practice and Procedure Under Workmen's Compensation Law, Effective January 3, 1972 (emphasis added). In this case the Commission itself entered the default of the surety. It also complied with its own rules and required the claimant to establish his case, which was done. In the past ten years the Commission has handled four hundred twenty thousand one hundred twelve (420,112) claims, only a few of which have reached this Court. In medical, causation, and disability rating matters, this Court has on many occasions recognized the expertise of the Commission. The cases are legion in number and citation would be superfluous. Apparently unnoticed by the other members of this Court, the Commission not only has its own rules and regulations, and the expertise which I mention, but it also has expertise in the administration of claims and the application of its own rules and regulations. Based on that expertise, which in only ten years encompasses the handling of over 420,000 claims, practically all of which were against sureties for employers, it without doubt has acquired an expertise in the manner claims are properly handled by sureties. Not to be forgotten is the extremely significant factor that the industrial-oriented member of the Commission has an extensive prior background in the surety business. Against that backdrop of experience and expertise the majority of this Court contentedly substitutes its collective judgment for the collective judgment of the Commission. I cannot comfortably do so. Although I applaud the majority opinion for its ready compassion in directing the Commission to award benefits nunc pro tunc as of fourteen months ago, a doubtful legal proposition, if it deigns to make an award to claimant, I do not think that the scant amount of interest on any award made is the equivalent of granting costs and expenses where a default judgment is set aside. Older practitioners will remember that where the district courts did find excusable neglect, the entry of an order setting aside the default was conditional on payment of costs and expenses. Here, unnoticed by the majority, counsel for the claimant, who could not conscionably or ethically agree to the vacating of his client's award (judgment), requested of the Commission only that if it did set aside the award and re-open the case, costs should be awarded. The majority of the Court, in moving into the Commission's territory, do nothing in that regard  which in my judgment heaps travesty upon usurpation. In closing, according to my recollection, just in the last thirty months or so, this Court, or at least some members thereof, have come down with a holding that even on a written record this Court may not properly substitute its findings for those of the Commission. Today the Court does just that  thereby completely breaking with all precedent.