WELCOME TO GEORGE J. ANDROS' INFORMATION WEBSITE

 

THE IWCC REASSIGNED ME FROM DEKALB TO KANKAKEE EFFECTIVE APRIL 1,2011. MY WHEATON CALL REMAINS WITH ME THRU DECEMBER 2011.   EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2012 I AM ASSIGNED TO THE SUPERVENUE OF JOLIET (site change) , GENEVA AND OTTAWA.    SEE IWCC WEB SITE FOR KEY ANNOUNCEMENTS  ALONG WITH THE DOWNSTATE 2012 HEARING DATES ETC   ON NOVEMBER 21 AND 22 I WILL  BE HEARING CASES IN COLLINSVILLE. ON NOVEMBER 28 & 29 I AM ASSIGNED TO HEAR CASES IN DECATUR.    I EXPECT TO BE ASSIGNED TO DOWNSTATE CALLS AS A SUBSTITUTE AS WELL WITHOUT MUCH NOTICE.  MOREOVER,  I  AM  ASSIGNED THE TASK OF WRITING AWARDS ON PREVIOUSLY TRIED CASES BY THOSE ARBITRATORS NO LONGER WITH THE IWCC.  TRANSCRIPTS ARE BEING ORDERED.  THUS,  I WILL NOT SPECIALLY SETTING ANY CASES  (see below for out of state wits etc. )   NOR WILL I PARTIALLY TRY CASES  IN ANY VENUE. TO FACILITATE COMMUNICATION GIVEN MY TRAVELS I RECOMMEND YOU EMAIL ME INSISTING YOU EMAIL YOUR OPPONENT SIMULTANEOUSLY. CALL THEM FOR THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS BEFORE EMAILING A JUDICIAL OFFICIAL.

 

 

 

I provide this in anticipation of the most frequently asked questions. The purpose of this site is to provide info to assist you in your practice at the following status calls of mine: Kankakee & Wheaton, effective April 1, 2011.   I will be reassigned to Joliet/Geneva/Ottawa supervenue effective January 1, 2012.  Any pre set hearings given by the prior Arbitrators in those venues on cases reassigned to me are hereby cancelled. The 2012 dates have for the most part been CHANGED.

Be aware the hearing site in JOLIET has changed to to a library until construction is done later in the year to house the Bankruptcy Court and the IWCC.

 

No bifurcated cases will  be endorsed.  I encourage you to have any witnesses "on call" for reasonable travel accomodation for presentation if you case is reached rather than have your witnesses sit in cafetera for long periods etc.  WIth a case load of thousands,  I am adverse to "special dates" as no case is more special than the next to both parties involved. 

 Out of state witnesses  & police officers/firefighters etc are the exception.  Attorneys not being ready or AWOL witnesses are not "good cause" under IWCC case law.  Out of state does not include northwest Indiana.

 

Trial order is set by me  to facilitate the most hearings and not by how early they are "stacked".  Trial order  is set at conclusion of checking in with signed, completed stip sheets.  See IWCC published Rules from "way back" regarding 8:45 am - 9:30 am ck in. 

Both Arbitrator OMalley and I make every effort to open the hearing room for that start time. 

 

  I will choose the venue, date and time of any further hearings from cases originated in Ottawa, Woodstock, Rockford, DeKalb or Waukegan.  Do not "walk in" with/on partially tried cases not officially set well in advance by me as they will not be heard. Email me about any such cases while c.c to other side on its face.  Due to all the changing dates, venue etc. issues it may take some time for me to set a date and choose the venue to close proofs on the rare case still "open".

 

        WHEATON 2011 CALENDAR-ANDROS FOR ERBACCI-SUBJECT TO FURLOUGH DAYS

 

 I will follow the REVISED (4/1/11) on-line 2011 IWCC calendar  for both Wheaton and DeKalb (March only) and  then Kankakee from April to end of year except as revised below: 

 

I WILL BE IN COLLINSVILLE ON NOVEMBER 21 AND 22 FOR HEARINGS AS A SUBSTITUE.  MAKE SURE YOU CK THE IWCC ANNOUNCEMENTS EVERY WEEK! 

 

                          WHEATON COMMENTARY-STRICT RULE ENFORCEMENT

 

Effective March 1st, 2011 every contract, pro se or represented, MUST have a WC # before presented for appoval. See IWCC web announcement.  forum shopping.  Filed pro se contracts will only be heard by the assigned Arbitrator on any date, status or hearing dates. The last hearing date is discouraged for pro se's due to the huge volume of "last day" cases set by attorneys.

 

  After you file a contract to get a WC number and Arbitrator assignment simply check the mainframe a few days later for the # and assigned Arbitrator.  You do not have to wait for a written notice etc.  We will ck that on line on the approval date; No forum shopping.  This may give your law firm time to send the pinks & explanation letter to the Petitioner ahead of the IWCC date so as to facilitate their enlightenment of the terms.  Do not present DeKalb pro ses in Wheaton or vise versa  unless a very  serious emergency exists for the worker. Make sure you have operative report and final release and or clinical note from treating doctor, accurate TTD dates etc. No N/As on pinks.

All lines are there for a purpose and must be completed.

 

 Reminder: the long standing rule about timely checking in and presenting completed stip sheets in the times stated in Rules  will be  enforced by both Arbitrators. Do this work before arriving, even in Chicago or via pdf's in the preceeding days.  That effort has been called a "bring along" case.

 

When the Petitioner is not working yet settled his/her case,  you may be asked to make a record with Petitioner present  on a settlement hearing. Make sure all blanks are filled in with more than "N/A" esp unpaid medical bills and what the Petitioner is doing if no RTW.   All fee requests above 20% will be made at a "hearing" PER THE RULES on the record not simply by document/affidavit without "hearing"-again,  per the rules.  No Kankakee  cases will be heard in Wheaton and vice versa. See below for more on IWCC settlement rules reminders, pro ses, etc.  I still seek the unpaid bills section completed on page one of the pinks for a total etc.  TO ALL ATTORNEYS: inserting the phrase "see terms" in that unpaid medical bill section without an itemization of unpaid bills on page 2, terms section will result in me returning the contracts for completion.    

 

 

 

CASE LAW from IWCC

 

WCLA.INFO  See the WCLA website seminar link for updated cases of import and explanation of same,

along with future monthly MCLE dates. WCLA archives the prior seminar materials on line. VIP- see Justice Hoffman's opinion on the collateral source rule and WCLA on line materials including esp  the Dismissal program plus all the 2011 Act amendment programs.

 

 

PROCEDURE FOR REINSTATEMENT AFTER DWP:  ___Ill.App 3d__, 918 NE2d, 570, 335 Ill.Dec.225 (2009(,

08IWCC 0645, & 0646, 00 WC 50293 & 50294.  VIP SEE RULE 7020.90 +FORM 43 TO BE ATTACHED NOTICE OF MOTION FORM ALONG with YOUR STATEMENT/MOTION.   NOTE A HEARING IS TO BE HELD & BOTH ATTYS TO SHOW.UP..

SEE A DISMISSAL FOR SUBSTANTIVE REASONS, LIKE COVERAGE OF WCA : HAGERMANN V. IWCC NO. 3-08-0989WC, FILED JANUARY 22, 2010.   SEE WORKERS COMPENSATION LAWYERS ASSOCATION WEB FOR MORE DETAILS ON MCLE SEMINAR WEDS MAY 12,2010 BY MICHAEL J. BRENNAN.

 

IWCC CASE LAW RE: RULE 7110 - ORDERS "MEANINGFUL" REHAB AFTER PLANT CLOSES:

STANLEY PIECH V. CONSOLIDATED FREIGHTWAYS 01 WC 3877, 05 IWCC 0662

(Westlaw 2005 WL 2985084 (ill.W.C.C) , citing Roper Contracting v IC, 349 IllApp.3rd 500, 812 N.E. 2nd 65 (2004)

 

VIP CASE LAW RE: RULE 7110- SEE WISE V. MAINE TOWNSHIP HSD NO. 207, 17 ILWCLB 220 iILL.W.C.COMM. 2009).     The IWCC vacated the Arb.Award of 8d1 plus rejected the Pet's theory he was a PTD. The IWCC found a permancy Award was premature, and instead, the Pet. should pursue vocational rehabilitation in the form of a suitable retraining program + maintenance.

 

Additionally, see the 2006 case of Rubino v. MDA Contractors, Inc, 14 ILWCLB 85, ( Ill.Ind.Comm.2006).  The Pet was on TTD for 4 years with no vocational rehab while the Pet make over 70 emloyment contacts and had accepted offer performing computer entry work that paid $13.00 per  hour. He would have been making $33.32. Employer did nothing until after the PEt. found employment. Then the employer obtained a labor market survey. The IWCC held the objection to a 8d1 was without merit.  The IWCC cited rule 7110.10(a).  See the Appellate Court case of Westin.

 

In this case the IWCC awarded prospective college education at NIU. See Owen v. Illinois Department of Human Services 17 ILWCLB 229 (Ill.W.C.Comm 2009).

 

 

See the discussion involving a medical study not including w.c. population set aside in its attempt to negate a UR opinion; the medical treatment involved one of the interventionalist pain txs," intradiscal bicuplasty procedure.

Bellamy v. Flexway Trucking Co, Inc 17 ILWCLB 230 ( Il.W.C.COMM 2009) This may be Heyl, Royster Rockford office case for defense.

 

 

 

COMMENTS ON HEARINGS

 

 

  Bifurcated hearings are not at all encouraged. To avoid that issue simply  meet ahead in Chicago or another venue the month for your case is before me , or send stips to each other (not to Arb) via WORD or PDF prior to the hearing date to complete the stip sheets and exhibit list; When mulitple attorneys are on file you can "skipe" at one conference session.   This will facilitate your compliance with the IWCC rule to present completed stip sheets between 8:45am and 9:15am per Rule. I do not set a trial order til that morning until stips are in @ 9:30 AM.  

 

See case law that AWOL witnesses are not good cause under the rules for a continuance/bifurcation. Having witness(es) "on call at the plant" to bring down to iwcc once the trial order is set etc is fine with me.

 

 

 19-b-1 and 19 P HEARINGS  (ADR -LIKE HEARINGS) ARE STRONGLY ENCOURGED BY ME.

 

I strongly  encourage attorneys to file either 19B-1 or 19P Petitions to expedite dispostion. Your clients, both Pet and Resp,  regularly inquire at the IWCC  & of me informally in a general sense at seminars about expediting cases.

 

No 19b Petition is officially set for hearing unless I personally "call it" & announce it (the hearing date)  to all attorneys AT THE CALL DATE and I annotate the  presented Notice of Motion for the date I set the case for hearing.  IF the parties agree upon a date certain I must call it and set it myself. If I do not call it on the status call then it is NOT offically set for hearing despite any follow up letter by offices to the other side i.e. no crossing nastygrams between lawfirms will get it set. Remind your staff- do not call me for "advice" on how to set cases, fill out forms etc. If any attorney needs to contact me I encourage email -with mandatory c.c. to other side on the c.c. line.  Call the other attorney to get his/her email before emailing a hearing officer. 

                           

Pro se ANNOUNCEMENTS- See Wheaton Commentary above on same

 

See below for detail on pro se settlements. As stated infra, I reserve the right to arrange the order of hearing s etc before approving all pro se settlements.  If Petitioner is unavailable such as out of state or where time off will jepardize their job,  In a rare emergency- I  will entertain reviewing the approval by Affidavit but may want more info etc thereafter prior to stamping. You may wish to email me ahead of time on those cases following Sup.CT rules. Remember: Ill Supreme Court Rules apply in dealing with pro ses. That is so despite some attorneys telling me "well, this is just comp".

 

                                                               KANKAKEE ANNOUNCMENTS 

  

There is limited work room and most attorneys are from Chicago. Thus, PLEASE complete stip sheets and exhibit lists BEFORE the status call or hearing dates over coffee in Chicago. The large room available on the status call date is NOT available on the other days.

 

Please Please bring in pro se settlements on the Status Call given that hearing dates 2 and 3 may have not hearings set or most likely, those cases settle the night before the hearing date.

 

Given the limited facilities, lunch may be had at Subway in the gas station with 2 booths, or, a normal lunch may be had with collegues at "Bills Diner" just a bit south of OAK Orthpedics building on Route 45, with easy access back to Interstate 57.  Steak N Shake signs may be seen closer to Bourbannais exit but it is about 2 miles west of 57.

 

 

                           

                    REMINDERS to STAFF AND MAIL RECOMMENDATIONS 

 

My reminders remain as follows: 1) do not send/drop off  any mail to me at Chicago or downstate courthouses ,  2) use sufficent postage and large enough envelopes to reply given the large # of multiple page pinks you ask me to return.  Stuffing them via tape into regular envelopes with those small insert return envelopes has resulted in torn pinks, failed delivery and major delay.  3) Avoid the requirement of  my signature at the post office; that request delays pick up.  4) No Fed Express or UPS to post office box nor addressed to me in the loop. Insufficent postage yields returned pinks as I refuse to pay your balance at my postoffice ........5) No fax, no text, no tweet, no facebook, no spacebook, flickr and no skype.  6) Warn your staff esp downstate not to call me for advice on how to handle the paperwork etc.  6)   I refuse to pay postage shortages, happening frequently. I just let the post office return your mail over the next few weeks.

 

6) I do encourage email contact but ONLY if you call the other side for their email address and email them simultaneously with their contact info in the c.c. line etc. Snail mail to the other side after you send me an email is prohibited by Sct Rules and ABA models rules.

 

 

PROPOSED FINDINGS

 

    See the iwcc web for updated Award forms.  Regarding proposed findings, please email them to me as attachments in microsoft WORD  using the "on line" IWCC  form Award.  First fill in the gray blanks to allow for intermittent TTD dates etc then do your "save as" as a last step.  Direct staff not to use prior "form" ones they saved in their computer/used on past cases as the errors generated in the case at bar are frequent and devastating to your work product.

Again, see www.iwcc.il.gov link forms link Awards

 

  Prepare & send the Statement of Facts & Conclusions of Law separately stated per IWCC Act/Rules to me as separate email attachment in document form via Microsoft WORD, preferrably in TAHOMA type. 

 

( I consider this as the material facts upon which the Award is based.  Please avoid trying to abstract the record in the Satement of Fact then/ and arguing theory/poking at the other side!! - save that for REVIEW.  Remember, the Award is in the nature of a judical order, not a brief in support thereof.)  

 

   I can not read Wordperfect docs or some conversions to WORD.   Do not send them as PDF nor send me a disc or CD.   Paper copies are not required nor desired but I do not refuse them if its your office policy to send them as well as via Email above.  I strongly recommend you NOT file them at the IWCC; I will reply via email that they are received, open & are legible.  I will click a "read receipt" if you send email in that fashion.

 

 

ELECTRONIC MAIL ISSUES

 

Please email me with any questions or appropriate communication following the Supreme Court  Rules of Conduct  as long as your opponent is copied on the c.c. addressee  line on the  face of that very same email.  If you do not have the otherside's email address simply call them to get it prior to sending it to me.  If you mail part or all to the other side do not send me an email as it is not simultaneous communication.  Email is communication referenced in the Supreme Court Rules, as amended and the ABA Model Guidelines.  Staff: try and identify the case in the caption so I do not delete fearing "spam".   I get emails with the staff's first name as sender and nothing in subject line.I automatically delete them.

 

I will continue to  delete all ex parte email without action  especially from your staff. At times staff members  still contact/call  me on how to handle your legal matters before the Commission, many times without knowledge or direction of their counsel.   This is particularly true downstate.  

 

PRACTICE REFERENCES & "COMING SOON"

 

Sample proposed findings as I prepared for the IICLE may soon  be attached on this WIKI.   

Additional links to sources of medical- legal information and refreshers on some of the post 2005 Rule changes will be highlighted.  Soon I will attached to two often cited yet never found surveys on carpal tunnel syndrome and a published medical article explaining those surveys are not peer reviewed etc etc.  I will do this to expell the myths surrounding the citation to medical "studies"

 

The first medical source is www.mispine.com Dr. Patrick Sweeny of the south suburbs is a well known spine surgeon who by his announcement is a leader in spine microsurgery.  His web links to a 6 minute video on it.  Any other medical links of interest to the practicing bar will be posted by sending me an email with the cite etc.

 

                                MCLE SEMINARS  & IWCC RULE HIGHLIGHTS

 

See the ISBA and ITLA websites for the annual fall workers compensation MCLE seminars. Those seminars customarily include professional responsibility credits.  The ARDC website links free MCLE webinars for professional responsibilty credit. ARDC usually cites updated case rulings for educational purposes.  Many large law firms have free electronic Webinars for official MCLE credit including those for ethics credit.  One of those with free MCLE courses on line  is the Clifford Law offices. I dont know others by name so please email the others to me and I will post them here.

 

The ITLA and ISBA advanced work comp seminars are identified on their own sites.

 

The IICLE seminar by Justice Wolfson & Professor Mauet on the new Rules

of Evidence law in illinois was given at Univ of Chicago  in two sessions last year.

They are now on various dates and available for sale on electronic media per IICLE website.  Excellent presentation! Judge Gino Divito published works on the new rules of evidence: it is available in very handy format for both research and trial practice.

 

 .

Moreover, see the WCLA web www.wcla.info for the monthly free seminars on cutting edge topics and cases.

 

For now, please go on line for the Rules link to see the updated rules on settlement contracts when the Petitioner is not working or is deceased.  Additionally, see all the settlement contract rules; note the updated one  when an eye injury is involved.  Per prior policy statement from the IWCC complete all blanks avoiding the use of "N/A". Please include prior offers and if a fee petition is pending. Those rules clearly seek pinks info on unpaid bills, prior pro se offers, Awards etc.

 

Today's highlight WC Act sections to study are both 19(m) & 19(p): As to further rules ,  see  Rule 7110 ("shall")  and published  Appellate cases such as Westin Hotel case & Roper.  

 

  Many times I require a hearing on the settlement when the Petitioner has not returned to gainful employment or the terms are not clear. e.g pinks with multiple lines showing "disputed" or the costs are not broken down in the terms section. See the Rules section on "settlements" re cases involving eye injuries, death case settlements and total permanent settlements before signing off on pinks.  Watch your staff's fee calculation of 20% fee on high $ settlements as I routinely find fees in excess of the limits per the Act. Those contracts will be the subject of "hearing" per the settlement contract section of the IWCC Rules.

 

PRO SE SETTLEMENTS AND CONTRACTS 

 

   I will hear pro se settlements on the hearing dates (morning) as well as status call dates.  Try to avoid my last hearing date to bring in pro se settlements or they may wait for a long time do to the large # of attorneys that choose the last date to set all there cases etc. Pro se settlements are usually not given priority before attorney check in given the IWCC rules for check in times @ 8:45 to 9:30 AM. 

 

 Do not presume I will take the pro se settlements before I check in the attorneys and take request for hearings per the rule of check in from 8:45am to 9:15am. Pro se petitioners should not be promised by anyone that they will be given absolute priority on busy hearing dates.   Per long standing IWCC policy letters, all blanks must be filled out and the use of "N/A" avoided. Please see the IWCC Rules on line for "settlements" incl newer rules on eye injuries, death and total perm cases.

 

Again, do not promise pro se settlements they can get heard by a certain time to minimize time missed from work; each case is different and I do defer complex settlements until later in the morning when more time allows a very close study of the matter, reviewing all the records, and conference with the injured worker about the rights he/she is waiving.    

 

Respondent's failing to show the papers and medical reports to the unsophisticated petitoner well before the  settlement day attempt does not create a legal Tsunami before my bench.  Many times I tell the unrepresented worker to either seek legal counsel via the county bar association referral service or hold the case for a month to carefully consider the waivers of rights on the "pinks".   I am neither advocate for the employee nor employer of course,  especially in pro se matters. Both the Supreme Court and IWCC rules addresses the legal knoweldge and standards to which the pro se litigant is held.  Respondent counsel is reminded to carefully study the ramifications of Supreme Court rules regarding dealing with pro se litigants.  This is especially true given monthly remarks to me by many many pro se litigants that the company attorney (standing at bar) " told me that If I hurt that part again all I have to do is  just file a new claim or sled it through group insurance." or, "the insurance adjuster told me that the Arbitrator will tell me everything and make sure everything is OK."

 

 

Adjusters should send the actual operative report and duty release to attorney for presentation. Frequently I ask for full wage statements for contruction workers or what some call seasonal employees or those workers falling under the Sylvester case law. Overtime needs documentation. Telling me and the pro se that the adjuster did not fax the wage statement or  all the medical information last night- is not my problem.

 

When the full release after surgery is "recent" as I determine, I fequently confirm the propriety of the settlement  but ask the Petitoner to defer settling until they  perform their job for a few more months. This is especially true for laborers released during a slow season or CTS patients who have not returned full tilt over a # of months.  Head, fusion  and eye injuries are also in that group. Many settlements are deferred by me until one year after fusions despite nurse case managers obtaining a slip embossed with those enigmatic letters MMI.  Remember, see the Settlement section of the Rules for the 2006 amended Rule regarding needed report fro eye doctor as a condition of settlement. 

 

 

 

Given the increase in showing the paperwork to the pro se minutes  before I see them ( or even in line as in Wheaton with the attorney whispering to the pro se while walking backwards to my bench )  I have increasingly told pro se petitioners to go home &  take a long look at the paperwork, amount offered and then come  back next month if you are sure you want to settle your claim for the amount offered. As I tell everyone, no one has to be there & settle,  but you can take your time and come back next month or see me at one of my other sites- being mindful of the statute of limitations.    You have the right to seek legal counsel prior to settlement. The IWCC furnishes the local Bar Association #s usually on IWCC letterhead.

 

 

 suggestions??

 

...any suggestions for topics?  please email them to me at george.andros@illinois.gov  ( I can not allow access to this wiki for posting as yet.)

 

George J. Andros

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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