Court Opinion

ID: 9720870
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:43:39.020958+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:21.901920
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE THOMAS, specially concurring: I agree with the result reached by my colleagues in affirming the appellate court’s decision in the instant case and in overruling Borrowman v. Prastein, 356 Ill. App. 3d 546 (2005). I also agree with the conclusion that a bright-line rule should be adopted so as to require an explicit and affirmative reference to the workers’ compensation lien before it can be waived by settlement language. I would only add that even in the absence of such a bright-line rule, I do not believe that the general language of paragraph six of the parties’ resignation agreement was intended to encompass Rail Terminal’s workers’ compensation lien. Paragraph six provides that “[t]his Agreement does not constitute an admission by Employer of any liability or wrongdoing but it is intended to resolve in good faith any existing or potential disputes or claims arising out of Employee’s relationship and separation with Employer.” (Emphasis added.) The first clause of the above-quoted sentence suggests — like all of the other language of both agreements — that it is only concerned with claims that Gallagher may have against Rail Terminal. Although the second clause uses some broad language about “any existing or potential disputes or claims,” I believe that this second clause must be read in relation to the first clause. Reading paragraph six in this way leads to the conclusion that the second clause is simply referring to claims that the employee (Gallagher) may have against the employer (Rail Terminal) and not claims that Rail Terminal may have against Gallagher, such as a workers’ compensation hen. This becomes even clearer when all of the language of both documents are read together as a whole, as they must be. See In re Estate of Mayfield, 288 Ill. App. 3d 534, 541 (1997). All of the rights that are specifically mentioned as being waived in both documents are claims that Gallagher may have against Rail Terminal. Paragraph six reinforces this theme by stating that the agreement does not constitute an admission by the employer of any liability or wrongdoing even though it is resolving in good faith existing or potential disputes and claims. In essence, the parties intended that Gallagher receive $150,000 in immediate compensation for permanent partial disability, plus an additional $1 in consideration, in exchange for his resignation and his waiver of any claims against Rail Terminal.