General Electric Co. v. Industrial Commission

546 N.E.2d 987, 190 Ill. App. 3d 847
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 5, 1989
Docket4-88-0326WC
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 546 N.E.2d 987 (General Electric Co. 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
General Electric Co. v. Industrial Commission, 546 N.E.2d 987, 190 Ill. App. 3d 847 (Ill. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinions

JUSTICE WOODWARD

delivered the opinion of the court:

Claimant, Ann Holycross, filed two applications for benefit, both on the same day. The first application alleged an accident occurring on February 6, 1985, resulting in injury to her right shoulder, arm, and wrist. The second application alleged an accident occurring on June 25, 1985, resulting again in injury to her right shoulder. The cases were consolidated at arbitration.

Claimant testified at the April 14, 1986, arbitration hearing as follows. On February 6, 1985, claimant had been employed by General Electric for 26 years. At that time, she was a “combination worker,” attaching electrical leads and soldering wires onto a ballast. The ballasts weighed about two pounds each, and she would pull down three to five of these ballasts at a time. She stood while performing this job.

As claimant worked with each ballast, she would pull leads down from above and insert them with her right hand. Each lead was inserted into a hold, and the claimant would pound it down. She could then pull the lead out through the hole with her right hand and solder the connection, holding the soldering gun with her right hand. Next, she would push 6 to 12 of these ballasts down the roller belt with her right hand.

Claimant would then go to the other end of the belt and insert leads. She would have to put bundles of leads in a bin. She would lift bundles of these leads with both hands. The bins were at about head level. She would then take ballasts and put them on the roller belt.

The claimant would next pull leads out of the bins and insert several leads into each end of the ballasts. As she finished about five ballasts, she would shove them down the roller belt to other employees and start all over again. She performed these functions all day long, rotating usually from attaching leads to the stringing job.

In the latter part of 1984, while working, claimant began to note pain in her right shoulder, forearm, and hand. She went to the company nurse, who wrapped the arm in an ace bandage and gave her a pain pill. After that, the claimant saw the company nurse about once a week for the same treatment. Claimant did inform her foreman about her problem.

In January 1985, claimant was experiencing breathing problems, and General Electric sent her to Dr. Lopez, who admitted her to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital for breathing tests. While she was in the hospital, Dr. Lopez called in Dr. Johnson, an orthopedic doctor, who evaluated her. Dr. Johnson had Dr. Tazudeen, a neurologist, perform an EMG on claimant.

After her release from the hospitál, claimant saw Dr. Johnson once a month. The doctor treated her with injections of cortisone and placed a splint on her right forearm which she wore except at work. After three or four months of treatment with Dr. Johnson, claimant seemed to be getting better. Claimant had continued to work during this time.

On June 25, 1985, claimant was performing a different job with ballasts than her regular one. She would push 10-pound ballasts down to the test set, testing them and pushing them on down to the packing station and packing. She worked this particular job for a couple of hours every day.

On June 25, 1985, claimant was getting ready to test the ballasts which were double stacked behind the test set. She went around the test set and shoved about 20 ballasts down to her test set, pushing with her right arm. She felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder which went up into her neck. Claimant went to the nurse, who gave her a pain pill, and she returned to work.

At the beginning of July 1985, claimant took one week’s vacation. She returned to work and worked one week, and then took two more weeks’ vacation. She then returned to work. She noted that while she was off work, she was not bothered by pain in her shoulder, but as soon as she used pressure, the pain returned.

On August 6, 1985, claimant again saw Dr. Johnson. He continued to give her inflammatory pills, an injection, and had claimant stay home from work. He also prescribed physical therapy two to three times a week and did an arthrogram in September 1985. In November 1985, Dr. Johnson operated on claimant’s right shoulder. Following surgery, he prescribed mild therapy two or three times a week. Claimant has not worked since August 6, 1985.

At tiie time of the hearing, claimant still suffered pain in her right shoulder and right arm. Weather changes produce more pain and aching. Dr. Johnson, whom she continued to see once a month, restricted her lifting to two pounds. When she lifts, she has a lot of pulling and hurting, especially when her right arm is extended. She had not injured her right shoulder prior to February 1985 and not since June 25, 1985.

On cross-examination, claimant testified that she had been treated for bursitis and impingement in 1984. On August 22, 1985, she completed a form applying for group disability benefits, and she stated that the facts set forth in that document were accurate at the time she filled out the form.

On redirect examination, claimant was asked if she knew what the definition of an accident was under the Workers’ Compensation Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 48, par. 138.1 et seq.). Over the objection of General Electric, claimant testified that she did not. General Electric then introduced a copy of the group disability benefit form which claimant had filled out and which she indicated that her disability was not the result of an accident.

The evidence deposition of Dr. Leighton Johnson, an orthopedic specialist, was admitted into evidence at the request of the claimant. Dr. Johnson testified that he first saw claimant on February 2, 1985, at the request of Dr. Lopez, her internist. He took a history from her and performed a physical examination. After reviewing the results of the EMG performed by Dr. Tazudeen and the X rays, Dr. Johnson’s impression was that the claimant was suffering from mild right carpal tunnel syndrome, mild right lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), chronic cervical strain, and mild impingement syndrome of the right shoulder. His recommendation was to monitor the condition, and that she be kept on anti-inflammatory medicine. At the present time, the claimant is showing signs of improvement. She can lift up to about 2 to 21k pounds in her present range of motion, which is still limited. She is still not ready to be released to return to steady work. It would be a minimum of two months before she could return to work full time.

Dr. Johnson testified that the number one cause of carpal tunnel syndrome is idiopathic, to wit, it just occurs in a patient. He generally sees it in people who use their hands in a repetitive manner on a daily basis. Epicondylitis is associated with forearm and wrist movements, usually repetitive, against resistance. The impingement syndrome can be due to degeneration in the muscle by aging. Many times it is caused by repetitive motion. However, there are a wide variety of causes for it. The chronic cervical strain apparently was no longer a problem for claimant.

In Dr. Johnson’s opinion, the repetitive motion of claimant’s work was an aggravating factor of the carpal tunnel syndrome.

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General Electric Co. v. Industrial Commission
546 N.E.2d 987 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
546 N.E.2d 987, 190 Ill. App. 3d 847, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-electric-co-v-industrial-commission-illappct-1989.