Court Opinion

ID: 9713254
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:12:17.142777+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:17.866145
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE BARRY, specially concurring: While I concur with the majority’s conclusion that the Commission did not err in overturning the arbitrator’s decision, I disagree with the majority’s finding that the Commission’s power of review has not changed. The majority rests its position on three conclusions: (1) that Orkin Exterminating Co. v. Industrial Comm’n (1988), 172 Ill. App. 3d 753, 526 N.E.2d 861, and Cook v. Industrial Comm’n (1988), 176 Ill. App. 3d 545, 531 N.E.2d 379, did not establish any basis for changing the standard of review employed by the Commission; (2) that the amendment to section 19(e) of the Workers’ Compensation Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 48, par. 138.19(e)) did not change the standard of review; and (3) that this court’s refashioning of the standard of review would amount to an impermissible overturning of supreme court decisions by an appellate court. Historically, the law in Illinois has been that on review the Industrial Commission could hear any new evidence the parties cared to introduce and that it was not bound by the decisions of its arbitrators. In 1921, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the Commission’s review of an arbitrator’s decision is sui generis, being neither a mere review of the written record made before the arbitrator nor a trial de novo, but a combination of the two. (People ex rel. Oelsner v. Andrus (1921), 299 Ill. 50, 132 N.E. 225.) Subsequently, in Rodriguez v. Industrial Comm’n (1939), 371 Ill. 590, 21 N.E.2d 741, the supreme court held that regardless of whether the Commission hears any testimony in addition to that heard by the arbitrator, it exercises original jurisdiction and is in no way bound by the arbitrator’s findings. The supreme court reiterated that holding in Garbowicz v. Industrial Comm’n (1940), 373 Ill. 268, 26 N.E.2d 123, and more recently in Berry v. Industrial Comm’n (1984), 99 Ill. 2d 401, 459 N.E.2d 963. Times change. The Commission’s 1988 in-house study, “Workers’ Compensation Overview 1972-1988,” showed that while in 1950 only 2,951 workers’ compensation claims were pending, by 1988 over 71,000 claims were pending. The study noted that 55% to 60% of the arbitrators’ decisions were appealed to the Commission. It further noted that in 1979, for the first time in its history, the number of cases pending at the Commission had exceeded the number of new cases filed. In a pessimistic discussion of its ability to meet its workload, the Commission stated that the 9- to 18-month delay for oral arguments on review could quickly grow to a 30- to 36-month delay by the end of the fiscal year. Against this backdrop of an increasing caseload and a lengthening delay between the filing of cases and their final resolution, the legislature amended the Workers’ Compensation Act (Pub. Act 83 — 1125, eff. June 30, 1984). Among other things, Public Act 83 — 1125 increased the number of Commissioners, provided for an expedited hearing procedure for certain cases, and amended section 19(e) to severely limit the types of evidence which could be introduced on review before the Commission. Prior to June 30, 1984, section 19(e) had provided that on review the Commission could consider any evidence the parties cared to submit. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 48, par. 138.19(e).) The amended section 19(e) provided in relevant part: “Additional evidence may be adduced where such evidence (1) relates to the condition of the employee since the time of the arbitration hearing, (2) relates to matters that occurred or conditions that developed after the arbitration hearing, or (3) was, for good cause, not introduced at the arbitration hearing.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 48, par. 138.19(e).) In enacting Public Act 83 — 1125, Senator Collins stated that the bill “made some great stride[s] in resolving *** the problem that labor had with [the] speedy expedition of claims.” (83d Ill. Gen. Assem., Senate Proceedings, June 30, 1984, at 83.) In the House, Representative McPike stressed the fact that the amendment provided for an expedited hearing and increased the number of Commissioners to seven, which would “hopefully provide swift answers to the cases before the Commission.” 83d Ill. Gen. Assem., House Proceedings, June 30, 1984. at 150. The supreme court took notice of this change in Yellow Cab Co. v. Industrial Comm’n (1985), 108 Ill. 2d 330, 483 N.E.2d 1278, where it upheld its own decision to create a special Industrial Commission Division of the Appellate Court (113 Ill. 2d R. 22(g)). There, the supreme court stated: “[U]nder the existing statutory scheme and the provisions of Rule 302(a) prior to its amendment, claims for compensation were not being adjudicated in the expeditious manner contemplated by the Workers’ Compensation Act [citations]. For the most part the delays [were] encountered prior to the cases reaching the circuit courts, but it is anticipated that the amendments to the Workers’ Compensation Act effected by Public Act 83 — 1125 (eff. June 30, 1984) will expedite the decision of cases by the Commission. In view of the number of times the issues are decided prior to reaching that stage, we are of the opinion that any further extension of the litigation beyond the decision of the appellate court is warranted only if at least two members [now one member] of the appellate panel make the statements required under Rule 315(a).” Yellow Cab, 108 Ill. 2d at 341, 483 N.E.2d at 1283. This court thereafter decided Orkin Exterminating Co. and Cook. It is true that neither case changed the Commission’s standard of reviewing arbitrators’ decisions to one of manifest weight of the evidence. However, contrary to the majority’s assertion, the cases did in fact change the standard by which the Commission is to review its arbitrators’ factual findings. When this court stated that an arbitrator’s factual findings are not without legal effect and that it would apply an extra degree of scrutiny to cases in which the Commission had overturned an arbitrator’s findings without hearing new evidence, the Commission’s standard in reviewing arbitrators’ findings was resultantly changed, since it then could only overturn its arbitrators’ findings when its decision could withstand the extra scrutiny of this court. (I would note that in the Orkin and Cook cases the supreme court denied the parties’ petitions for leave to appeal.) The legislature, the supreme court, and the Commission itself have taken notice of the caseload now overwhelming the Commission. The legislature has sought to lessen this burden and expedite the appeal process by, among other things, severely limiting the nature of the hearing before the Commission. The supreme court has recognized the legislature’s desire to expedite appeals and in Yellow Cab partly justified its creation of this court by that need. This court in Orkin Exterminating Co. and Cook has effectively recognized the reality that the modern Industrial Commission must rely more and more on the record compiled before the arbitrator and that the Commission has less and less time to devote to an in-depth review of that record. Accordingly, I find that Orkin Exterminating Co. and Cook set forth a new standard of review in cases in which the Commission overturns an arbitrator’s factual findings without hearing new evidence and that this in turn means that the Commission must accord reasonable weight to the arbitrators’ findings. In other words, the Commission must now apply a “due deference” standard of review to its arbitrators’ decisions, taking into account that in most cases only the arbitrators actually view the witnesses and hear their testimony. I further find that this change in the law was in effect fully sanctioned by the legislature in Public Act 83 — 1125 and by the supreme court in Yellow Cab and that it therefore does not usurp the supreme court’s authority over this court. In the instant case, however, I find that even under the due deference standard the Commission did not err in overturning the arbitrator’s decision. The petitioner presented sufficient evidence to prove that his injury arose out of and in the course of his employment.