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Legal Updates

Appellate Court Issues Missing Evidence Instruction in Nursing Home Care Act Case

In Graves v. Rosewood Care Center, Inc., the Illinois Appellate Court decided a trial court properly issued a missing evidence instruction due to the nursing home defendant’s alleged failure to produce a portion of a resident’s chart. The Director of Nursing testified that the form was “routinely prepared,” but there was no definitive evidence the form ever existed.

 

Commission Proposes Rules Regarding Intoxication Defense

Given proposed rules filed by the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission in connection with the intoxication defense, it is clear that employers will need to observe strict rules in testing their employees when drugs or alcohol are believed to have played a role in an accident.

 

Discovery, Part II

Dave Collins describes discovery depositions and evidence depositions and explains their importance to the discovery process and the litigation of a case. Cases can be won or lost, and damages contained or exacerbated, during the deposition phase.

 

A Consent Form Defeats a Claim for Apparent Authority

In the decision of Lamb-Rosenfeldt v. Burke Medical Group, the trial court granted summary judgment to the defendant hospital on the issue of apparent agency, and the appellate court affirmed.

 

Workers’ Comp News Alerts

The Illinois Appellate Court’s decision in Will County Forest Preserve District v. IWCC will remain the law pending a legislative response. Two other recent decisions have dealt with overtime earnings as it related to both AWW and a claim for a wage differential.

 

Workers’ Compensation Case Update – Spring 2012

The Commission found that a Sheriff’s Department sergeant was not subjected to greater risk of injury on account of his employment when he twisted his ankle climbing a public staircase in a courthouse. In a separate case, the Commission found that a claimant had notified her supervisors of back pain, but had not provided them with notice that her condition was related to employment.