Court Opinion

ID: 9712747
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:59:14.155258+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:14.138534
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE CLARK, dissenting: I would reverse. The Industrial Commission’s overturning of the arbitrator’s decision was contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. Although it is true that the Commission is not bound by an arbitrator’s findings, an “arbitrator’s decision is not without legal effect and can be relied upon” to reverse the Commission when its decision is “against the manifest weight of the evidence.” (Lewandowski v. Industrial Com. (1969), 44 Ill. 2d 204, 206-07. See also Quick v. Industrial Com. (1972), 53 Ill. 2d 46.) The reason for this is that the arbitrator is “in a better position to evaluate” a petitioner than is the Commission or the court. 44 Ill. 2d 204, 206. The evidence does not clearly establish that the decedent’s death arose within the course of his employment with Illinois Valley. It is ambiguous at best. Decedent Bamberger, as the coroner’s report showed, suffered from coronary artery insufficiency. Although the medical testimony indicated that exact causes of coronary congestion such as suffered by Bamberger are not known, there was no unequivocal or emphatic support given to the petitioner’s argument that the death resulted from injuries within the scope of employment. Indeed, two doctors who testified for the petitioner, the decedent’s wife, only said the injuries could have resulted from activities within the scope of employment; and respondent Illinois Valley’s medical witness, a specialist in internal medicine, testified that decdent Bamberger’s death was unrelated to his work. Bamberger complained of not ■feeling well only after a golf game on May 25, 1970, and was hospitalized two days later. Upon discharge, two weeks later, the diagnosis was that he had premature or additional contractions of the heart. Between his release from the hospital and his death on July 24, 1970, he performed no physical activities at work. Against the advice of his physician, he announced a little league game. He died while announcing. The decision of the Commission and the affirmation by the circuit court were contrary to the arbitrator’s decision and the manifest weight of the evidence in my view. A causal connection between Bamberger’s death and his work has not been established.