Employee wins work comp case for Wallyball injury

In an appellate court case an employee of the Elmhurst park district won his workers compensation case for an injury her received while playing Wallyball durring work hours. The petitioner was a fitness director who began playing a walleyball game when there were not enough players to get a game going. When he came down from a shot he injured his knee that required surgery.

His employer denied the claim, stating that section 11 of the workers compensation act barred the claim. Section 11 of the Illinois workers Compensation act states at the relevant part  ” accidental injuries incurred while participation in voluntary recreational programs do not arise out of and in the course of the employment.”

The arbitrator and the appellate court held that although wallyball is a recreational activity, his job was to help the customers on there fitness goals and he played wallyball not for his own reasons but to accommodate the employers customers, and awarded the injured employee benefits.

http://illinoisworkinjurylawyer.com/free-book-illinois-workers-comp.html

Settlement : Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear with Torn Medial Meniscus

An actual case that went to trial, the arbitrator wrote a decision for 35% loss of a leg. The injured worker was a 19 year old dance instructor. the diagnosis was an anterior cruciate ligament tear coupled with a torn medial meniscus.  The surgery she underwent was a meniscectomy and debridement.  During the procedure the surgeon noted a very large tear of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus, in addition a piece of the cartilage was broken off.  The case was decided in 2007.