Court Opinion

ID: 9740606
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:38:16.381401+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:19.109797
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE KLUCZYNSKI, dissenting: I would affirm the judgment of the circuit court denying the award because I find the evidence totally insufficient to support the majority’s conclusion that petitioner’s injuries arose out of and in the course of his employment. This court on prior occasions has .affirmed judgments of the circuit court setting aside awards of the Industrial Commission where a claimant has failed to sustain his evidentiary burden. E.g., Bethlehem Steel Corp. v. Industrial Com., 41 Ill.2d 40; Schroeder Iron Works v. Industrial Com., 36 Ill.2d 519. In the present case petitioner finished his work at 3:30 p.m. on the day of the attack. His testimony indicates that the attack occurred shortly thereafter. The testimony of three co-employees is contrary to this position and placed the time of the attack nearly three hours later. Their testimony is supported by petitioner’s hospital admission record reflecting his admittance at 7 p.m. It seems completely unlikely that petitioner would not have sought medical attention for several hours in view of the extensive injuries which he sustained. The overwhelming evidence establishes that the attack occurred after 6 p.m., nearly three hours after petitioner had completed his work. The mere fact that an assault by a co-employee occurs while on the employer’s premises does not necessarily warrant an award of compensation to the injured employee. Such injuries though are compensable if they are related to a risk inherent or incidental to the performance of employment duties. (Thurber v. Industrial Com., 49 Ill.2d 561, 563-64.) The majority would seem to premise its decision upon its conclusion that the attack upon petitioner was related to an incident occurring earlier that day when Andrews refused to move in order to allow petitioner to mop the floor. According to petitioner’s witness, Marshall Lawson, this argument ensued at 10 a.m., about eight hours before the attack. The evidence, however, clearly preponderates in favor of the conclusion that the attack resulted from a personal matter culminating in an altercation over the dice game which had been played throughout the day in the locker room. According to the testimony of Ernest Fox and Lawson, petitioner had actively participated in the gambling. Moreover, petitioner’s own admission to the police shortly after the attack negates an award in this case. The majority dismisses this statement by asserting that it is for the trier of fact to determine where the truth lies. In my opinion a statement given to the police in a hospital emergency room shortly after a traumatic injury concerning the cause of that injury is far more reliable than a significantly different version which later emerges when the injured party seeks monetary reimbursement. . . The majority permits recovery to the petitioner primarily predicated on his own testimony which in its crucial part is inconsistent with his prior behavior and is, in my opinion, obviously false. Under such circumstances an award is improper. Cf. Rockford Clutch Division, Borg-Warner Corp. v. Industrial Com., 37 Ill.2d 62, 68. MR. JUSTICE SCHAEFER joins in this dissent.