Franz v. McHenry County College

584 N.E.2d 536, 222 Ill. App. 3d 1002, 165 Ill. Dec. 357, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 2153
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 27, 1991
Docket2-91-0373
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 584 N.E.2d 536 (Franz v. McHenry County College) 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
Franz v. McHenry County College, 584 N.E.2d 536, 222 Ill. App. 3d 1002, 165 Ill. Dec. 357, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 2153 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

JUSTICE BOWMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Robert E. Franz, appeals the dismissal, for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, of his complaint and application for entry of judgment on a workers’ compensation award. We affirm.

On May 16, 1990, pursuant to section 19(g) of the Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 48, par. 138.19(g)), plaintiff filed a complaint and application for the entry of judgment (complaint) on the final decision of the arbitrator of the Industrial Commission (Commission) finding defendant, McHenry County College, liable for certain payments and allowing defendant a credit amounting to $19,980.75 against its liability for temporary total disability compensation benefits. The claim stemmed from an injury apparently sustained by plaintiff while he was an employee of defendant in February 1984. The arbitrator’s decision, dated May 27,. 1988, stated that, pursuant to section 8(j) of the Act (see Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 48, par. 138.8(j)(l), defendant was entitled to this credit because plaintiff had received weekly benefits in that amount under a group insurance plan, the premiums of which were paid for, at least in part, by defendant. Plaintiff did not seek a clarification, modification or correction of the award from the Commission, nor did he commence a proceeding for review pursuant to section 19(f) of the Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 48, par. 138.19(f)).

Using language similar to that of section 8(j)(l) of the Act, the arbitrator’s decision stated that defendant shall keep plaintiff “safe and harmless” from any claims that “may be made against” plaintiff for having received said weekly benefits to the extent of the credit. In his complaint, plaintiff alleged, without supporting evidence or documentation, that the benefits available to him by virtue of his sick leave were benefits which would have been payable irrespective of an accidental injury under the Act. Relying on the language in the award and that of section 8(j)(l), plaintiff concluded that he was entitled to the reinstatement of his sick days and credits in the amount of 140 days in addition to reimbursement for attorney fees and costs.

Appended to plaintiff’s complaint was a letter to plaintiff’s attorney dated May 26, 1988 (the day before the arbitrator’s final decision), written at the request of plaintiff by Paul R. Dobbins, the dean of administrative services of the college. The letter stated that plaintiff had used 140 accumulated sick days during his recovery period and these days equalled $24,197.32 in salary. It was Dobbins’ opinion that plaintiff had the option of reimbursing the college to reinstate the 140 days of sick leave, or plaintiff could receive the $24,197.32 himself, in which case the college would not reinstate his accumulated sick days.

On September 21, 1990, defendant filed a motion to dismiss the complaint; defendant noted that it had paid all compensation due under the terms of the award, that plaintiff had failed to commence a timely proceeding for judicial review of the final award and had failed to attach a certified copy of the award as required by section 19(g) of the Act. Defendant attached a certified copy of the award in support of its motion. Defendant argued that plaintiff was, in effect, impermissibly seeking judicial review or amendment of the arbitrator’s award to include a finding that he was entitled to reinstatement of his sick leave days and this leave was governed by his contractual (collective bargaining) agreement with the college. Defendant’s motion sought dismissal of the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

In its memorandum opinion and order dismissing the complaint, the trial court noted that the scope of its authority to deal with a petition for entry of judgment was severely limited; the court cited this court’s decision in Konczak v. Johnson Outboards (1982), 108 Ill. App. 3d 513. The trial court concluded that plaintiff’s complaint did not simply seek entry of a judgment on the award, but rather sought to have the court “interpret or construe the Industrial Commission Award in this case and the provisions” of section 8(j)(l) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 48, par. 138.8(j)(1)).

Plaintiff filed a timely motion to reconsider, alleging (incorrectly, we believe) that the college had agreed, by virtue of its opinion letter of May 26, 1988, that plaintiff was entitled to reinstatement of his sick leave. In the alternative, plaintiff argued that he should be allowed to amend his complaint. In its response in opposition, defendant pointed out that the letter did not simply state that plaintiff was entitled to reinstatement of his sick leave but, rather, that reinstatement was contingent upon payment of the value of the sick leave. Defendant also argued that plaintiff should not be allowed to amend his complaint where he failed to tender an amended complaint. Plaintiff’s motion was denied on March 12,1991, and this appeal followed.

Plaintiff now argues that the trial court erred in dismissing his complaint, that he was not required to seek review of the award, but that because of the language of the award holding him safe and harmless, the facts show with certainty that he is entitled to reinstatement of his sick leave credits. Plaintiff concedes that he cannot cite any case construing the “safe and harmless” language of section 8(j)(1) of the Act now embodied in his award. Other than by way of the allegations in his complaint, we also note that plaintiff has not cited facts from the record that support his assertion that he was clearly entitled to sick leave credit irrespective of any compensation he might receive under a workers’ compensation claim. Indeed, in violation of Supreme Court Rule 341(e)(6) (134 Ill. 2d R. 341(e)(6)), plaintiff has not provided this court with a sufficient statement of facts containing the required references to the pages of the record that support his claims. Moreover, no reports of the proceedings were provided. Any doubts resulting from the incompleteness of the record will be resolved against the plaintiff as appellant. See Palmisano v. Connell (1989), 179 Ill. App. 3d 1089, 1099.

We are left to surmise from the pleadings and the limited information in the copy of the arbitrator’s award, which defendant provided in support of its motion to dismiss the cause, the conditions under which plaintiff was entitled to sick leave. Apart from plaintiff’s complaint together with the letter of opinion and defendant’s responsive pleading, the record is otherwise silent regarding his entitlement to sick leave. Any contractual agreement between plaintiff and defendant which existed at the time the claims arose has not been made part of the record.

The arbitrator made no findings regarding the reinstatement of credit for sick leave that plaintiff now asserts he is entitled to, even though plaintiff had asked the defendant for an opinion on this very subject and a letter of opinion was issued on the day before the arbitrator’s decision was made. Although the arbitrator made certain calculations in determining the compensation to be paid plaintiff, we do not have the benefit of a complete record of the proceedings before the arbitrator and cannot ascertain with certainty how the final sums due were calculated.

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Bluebook (online)
584 N.E.2d 536, 222 Ill. App. 3d 1002, 165 Ill. Dec. 357, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 2153, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/franz-v-mchenry-county-college-illappct-1991.