Court Opinion

ID: 9859969
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 23:04:37.454845+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:11:26.182234
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE STOUDER, dissenting: Because I do not view the claimant’s injuries as having arisen out of his employment, I dissent from the majority’s decision. I also have some doubts as to whether it was in the course of his employment, but I need not reach that issue. It is axiomatic that a claimant’s injury is not compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) unless it arises out of and in the course of the claimant’s employment. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 48, par. 138.2; Paganelis v. Industrial Comm’n (1989), 132 Ill. 2d 468, 548 N.E.2d 1033.) “[I]n the course of” employment refers to the time, place, and circumstances under which the injury is received. (Scheffler Greenhouses, Inc. v. Industrial Comm’n (1977), 66 Ill. 2d 361, 366, 362 N.E.2d 325, 327.) “Arising out of” refers to the causal connection between the employment and the injury: a connection demonstrated if the claimant establishes that the injury’s origin lies in some risk related to the employment. (Brady v. Louis Ruffolo & Sons Construction Co. (1991), 143 Ill. 2d 542, 548, 578 N.E.2d 921, 923.) In addition, an injury may be said to arise out of the employment if the conditions or nature of the employment increase the claimant’s risk of harm beyond that to which the general public is exposed. (Caterpillar Tractor Co. v. Industrial Comm’n (1989), 129 Ill. 2d 52, 541 N.E.2d 665.) The claimant has the burden of establishing the necessary causal relationship between the employment and the injury. Rosenbaum v. Industrial Comm’n (1982), 93 Ill. 2d 381, 444 N.E.2d 122. The mere fact that the claimant was present at the place of injury because of his employment duties will not by itself suffice to establish that the injury arose out of the employment. (Brady, 143 Ill. 2d 542, 578 N.E.2d 921.) Rather, a claimant must demonstrate that his risk of the injury sustained is peculiar to his employment, or that it is increased as a consequence of the work. (Orsini v. Industrial Comm’n (1987), 117 Ill. 2d 38, 509 N.E.2d 1005.) If an industrial accident is caused by a risk unrelated to the nature of the employment, or is not fairly traceable to the workplace environment, but results instead from a hazard to which the claimant would have been equally exposed apart from his work, the injury cannot be said to arise out of the employment. Brady, 143 Ill. 2d 542, 578 N.E.2d 921. In the instant case, the claimant was a sergeant in the detective division of the Springfield police department. He worked basically out of the police station and was not assigned to patrol duty. At the time of the collision, the claimant was returning to work from his lunch break. He was not responding to an emergency call, or on his way to a crime scene or investigation. His travel at the time was no different than any other person returning to work. He was exposed to no greater risk than that faced by any other member of the general public. I find the majority’s reliance on the fact that at the time of the collision the claimant had his police radio activated pursuant to a department directive, and was “on call,” most unconvincing. He was not performing any duties incidental to his employment at the time he was injured. Simply having the radio on surely does not suffice. He was not conducting any police-related activity at the time. He was just driving. Under the majority’s rationale, had the claimant slipped and fallen in the shower while listening to his police radio, the resulting injury would be covered by the Act. In sum, the claimant was involved in a traffic mishap, which was unrelated to his employment as a police detective. The claimant’s injuries did not arise out of his employment. The claimant failed to prove a causal connection between his injury and his employment. Workers’ compensation is not a general all-encompassing health and accident insurance policy. The facts in this case should not be construed in such a way as to make it so.