Court Opinion

ID: 9717773
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:10:05.137911+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:55.268365
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SIMON, dissenting: Summary judgment motions should only be granted when no material fact is genuinely at issue. (See, e.g., Carruthers v. B.C. Christopher & Co. (1974), 57 Ill. 2d 376, 380.) Because I believe a material issue of fact is still in dispute, I am unable to join the majority’s opinion. As the majority points out, “[t]he sole issue before this court *** is whether, under the facts of this case, the exclusive-remedy provision of the Act bars plaintiff’s common law malpractice action.” (107 Ill. 2d at 81-82.) Central to that issue is whether the physical examinations administered to the plaintiff were mandatory or submitted to solely by choice. The physical examinations received by the plaintiff were given without cost to the plaintiff. They may have been required by company policy. On the other hand, the examinations, as described in the company’s internal office memoranda, might have been taken by the plaintiff on a voluntary basis. There is a factual dispute as to the reason for the physicals which cannot be resolved by a summary judgment motion. Consistent with my position regarding the coverage of the Workers’ Compensation Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 48, par. 138.5(a)) set forth in my dissent in McCormick v. Caterpillar Tractor Co. (1981), 85 Ill. 2d 352, 360, I believe that it is significant here to decide whether or not the examinations were required by the employer and that the determination of this fact is necessary in order to reach a correct result in this case. Therefore, summary judgment was improper.