Today, we continue our review of the Illinois Supreme Court’s workers compensation caseload.  Between 2006 and 2013, the Court decided twelve workers compensation cases – three in 2006, three in 2007, one per year in 2008, 2009 and 2010, none in 2011 or 2012 and three in 2013.

Seven of the Court’s most recent workers compensation cases were won by the plaintiff below and five were won by defendants.

Defendants who won workers compensation cases at the Appellate Court have had a rough time of late, winning only one while losing four.

Plaintiffs who won at the Appellate Court generally lost at the Supreme Court too, winning two and losing five.

Combining the last two tables to arrive at the overall won-lost, we find that between 2006 and 2013, defendants won six and lost six.

The Court has six cases involving issues of compensability, two involving the powers and structure of the Workers Compensation Commission, two involving procedural issues, and one each involving workers compensation exclusivity and lien and credit holders.

Turning to the Justices’ voting records, Justices Freeman, Garman and Thomas cast four votes for defendants in workers compensation cases.  Justices Karmeier and Burke cast three votes for defendants.  Justices Kilbride and Fitzgerald cast two votes for defendants and Justices McMorrow and Theis cast one vote each.

Justice Kilbride led during these years with nine votes against workers compensation defendants.  Justices Freeman, Garman and Karmeier cast eight votes against defendants each.  Justices Thomas and Fitzgerald voted against defendants seven times each.  Justice Theis cast two votes and Justices McMorrow and Burke cast one each.

Join us tomorrow as we finish our review of the Court’s workers compensation cases.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Rita Simon (no changes).