Court Opinion

ID: 9707264
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 02:07:10.203472+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:30.073748
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE McCULLOUGH dissenting: The respondent ceased paying compensation after November 1990 and resumed payments subsequent to the Commission decision of August 1, 1991. Total temporary disability (TTD), as awarded by the arbitrator and affirmed by the Commission, extended to May 10, 1990. Respondent had paid this amount in full. Here, the issue is not the failure to pay TTD but whether the failure to pay the permanent disability award was vexatious, unreasonable delay, or the appeal was frivolous. The respondent began payments immediately after the decision of the Commission of August 1, 1991. The supreme court stated in McKay Plating Co. v. Industrial Comm’n (1982), 91 Ill. 2d 198, 209, 437 N.E.2d 617, 623: “Whether the employer’s conduct justifies the imposition of penalties is to be considered in terms of reasonableness and is a factual question for the Commission. Its decision is not to be disturbed unless against the manifest weight of the evidence.” Unless there is a finding that respondent’s request for review before the Commission was frivolous, unreasonable, or a vexatious delay, penalties should not be imposed. Respondent began permanency payments immediately after the Commission decision. The Commission’s decision denying penalties was not against the manifest weight of the evidence.