Dexheimer v. Industrial Commission

559 N.E.2d 1034, 202 Ill. App. 3d 437, 147 Ill. Dec. 694, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1275
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 24, 1990
Docket1-89-2255WC
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 559 N.E.2d 1034 (Dexheimer v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dexheimer v. Industrial Commission, 559 N.E.2d 1034, 202 Ill. App. 3d 437, 147 Ill. Dec. 694, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1275 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

JUSTICE McNAMARA

delivered the opinion of the court:

Petitioner, Bruce Dexheimer, brought an emergency petition pursuant to section 19(b — 1) of the Worker’s Compensation Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 48, par. 138.1 et seq.), seeking a continuation of temporary total disability benefits for injuries sustained while working for respondent, Flying Tigers. The arbitrator found that petitioner was not entitled to temporary total disability benefits after June 1, 1988. The Industrial Commission (Commission) affirmed the decision of the arbitrator, and the circuit court of Cook County confirmed the decision of the Commission. Petitioner appeals, citing as error the admission into evidence of the deposition testimony of an evaluating physician and the failure to admit into evidence the deposition testimony of one of his treating physicians. Petitioner additionally contends that the findings of the Commission are against the manifest weight of the evidence.

Petitioner was employer by respondent on June 5, 1985. On that date, he sustained work-related injuries to his cervical spine, neck and shoulders, sacral spine and torso, lower extremities, and left arm and elbow. Petitioner received treatment for his injuries from the Franklin Park Medical Clinic, Dr. Wayne Patrosky, Dr. Mark Lorenz, Dr. Ronald Sage, and Dr. Michael Gonzales.

During the period from June 5, 1985, through June 1, 1988, petitioner underwent a course of treatment involving a discectomy at the L5-S level of his lumbro-sacral spine and a program of rehabilitative physical therapy. Dr. Gonzales was petitioner’s treating physician during a large portion of this period. During therapy, petitioner developed an acute sesamoiditis of the right foot and was referred to Dr. Sage for additional treatment.

Petitioner returned to work on September 5, 1986, but was unable to continue full-time employment due to pain in his cervical area, lumbro-sacral area and right foot. He began to limp and experience tightness and spasms in his back, with pain radiating down his. legs. He indicated that he had trouble bending, twisting, walking, lifting and squatting. Dr. Gonzales took him off work again. Petitioner has not returned to work with respondent and remains under the care of Drs. Gonzales and Sage.

Petitioner, however, continues to operate Dex Contracting, Inc., a company which he organized on July 2, 1987. The company operates from April to October installing swimming pools.

Donald Musil, a private investigator, testified for respondent that he conducted a surveillance of petitioner. On May 12, 1988, Musil observed petitioner driving a truck loaded with topsoil. After the topsoil was dumped onto a driveway, Musil saw petitioner with a shovel in his hand, taking the shovel with dirt to a flower bed in front of a nearby house. Petitioner and his wife removed one-half of the soil from the truck, which was 15 to 16 feet long. Musil observed nothing unusual about petitioner’s gait while he was shoveling and raking.

Dr. George Cooper examined petitioner for respondent. Dr. Cooper testified in a deposition that in his opinion, petitioner had no impairment to motion or function and that he could return to work and do all his ordinary activities. Dr. Cooper concluded that petitioner had been overtreated and that any further treatment was an iatrogenic reinforcement.

On appeal, petitioner contends that the admission of Dr. Cooper’s •testimony into evidence was improper and prejudicial. Petitipner maintains that Dr. Cooper read his report into the record without the proper foundation having first been laid. Petitioner argues that the evidence qualifies neither as present recollection refreshed nor past recollection recorded.

Initially we note that in a proceeding before the Commission, the Illinois rules of evidence govern. (50 Ill. Adm. Code §7030.70 (1985).) In Illinois, when a witness has no independent recollection of facts within his knowledge, the witness may be permitted to refresh his memory by the use of a writing, provided, however, the witness can, after inspecting the writing, speak to the facts from his own recollection. (United States Steel v. Industrial Comm’n (1966), 35 Ill. 2d 506, 221 N.E.2d 258; People v. Griswold (1950), 405 Ill. 533, 92 N.E.2d 91.) If, after inspecting the writing, the witness cannot speak to the facts from his own recollection, the documents may be admitted into evidence as past recollections recorded. (Diamond Glue Co. v. Wietzychowski (1907), 227 Ill. 338, 81 N.E. 392; Noumoff v. Rotkvich (1967), 88 Ill. App. 2d 116, 232 N.E.2d 107.) In order for documents to be admitted as past recollections recorded, the following requirements first must be met: the genuineness of the writing and the accuracy of its contents must be established through foundation testimony; the writing must have been made contemporaneously within or shortly after the event or happening that it alleges to record; and the writing must have been made by the witness or someone under his direction with certain guarantees of correctness. Noumoff v. Rotkvich, 88 Ill. App. 2d 116, 232 N.E.2d 107.

Dr. Cooper’s testimony was taken by deposition, partially conducted at his office and partially at the Commission in the presence of the arbitrator. Throughout Dr. Cooper’s testimony, attorneys for petitioner and respondent disputed whether the doctor was reading directly from his report or was using his report to refresh his recollection. During one of the colloquies, Dr. Cooper stated that he was not reading directly from his report. Respondent’s counsel noted that the doctor was not reading word for word from the report, but rather, was referring to the report on occasion. Petitioner’s counsel stated that the doctor was reading directly from the report. The arbitrator found that Dr. Cooper’s manner of testimony was not contrary to the law and permitted the deposition to go into the record in its entirety. The Commission confirmed this finding.

The trial court, or here, the Commission, has considerable discretion to determine whether the writing does in fact revive the witness’ recollection. (See People v. Black (1980), 84 Ill. App. 3d 1050, 406 N.E.2d 23; City of Crystal Lake v. Nelson (1972), 5 Ill. App. 3d 358, 283 N.E.2d 239.) Thus, the issue of whether the doctor read directly from his report or referred occasionally to his report is one which properly belongs to the Commission. Moreover, it is the function of the Commission to decide questions of fact. (Johns v. Industrial Comm’n (1980), 81 IH. 2d 145, 407 N.E.2d 61.) The decision of the Commission will be disturbed only if it is against the manifest weight of the evidence. Certi-Serve, Inc. v. Industrial Comm’n (1984), 101 Ill. 2d 236, 461 N.E.2d 954; Roberts v. Industrial Comm’n (1983), 93 Ill.

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Bluebook (online)
559 N.E.2d 1034, 202 Ill. App. 3d 437, 147 Ill. Dec. 694, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1275, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dexheimer-v-industrial-commission-illappct-1990.