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Elliott v. Industrial Comm'n

Case Date: 01/19/1999
Court: Industrial Commission
Docket No: 1-98-0250WC

Elliott v. Industrial Comm'n, No. 1-98-0250

1st Dist. No. 1-98-0250

Industrial Commission

January 19, 1999

NO. 1-98-0250WC

IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIRST DISTRICT

Industrial Commission Division

JESS ELLIOTT,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION

OF ILLINOIS and UNITED AIRLINES,

INC. (Defendants-Appellees).

 Appeal from

Circuit Court of Cook County

No. 96L50973

Honorable John Ward,

Judge Presiding.

_______________________________________________________________

PRESIDING JUSTICE McCULLOUGH delivered the opinion of the court:

Claimant Jess Elliott appeals from the order of the circuit court of Cook County confirming a decision of the Illinois Industrial Commission (Commission). The respondent employer is United Airlines, Inc. The arbitrator denied the claim because the claimant's testimony and evidence relating to the existence of an accidental injury were not credible. The Commission affirmed and adopted the decision of the arbitrator. The issues are whether (1) the testimony of Captain John Parker constituted a judicial admission such that the claimant had met his burden of proving he sustained an accidental injury as a matter of law; and (2) the Commission's decision is against the manifest weight of the evidence. We affirm. Only those facts necessary to an understanding of this court's disposition will be discussed.

The first issue is whether the testimony of Parker constituted a judicial admission. In this case, the request for hearing indicated that whether there was an accident within the purview of the Workers' Compensation Act (Act) (820 ILCS 305/1 et seq. (West 1996)) was at issue. Parker's handwritten report was appended as an exhibit to his evidence deposition and the deposition and exhibit were offered as exhibits at arbitration by claimant.

Statements considered admissions can be determined to be judicial admissions or evidentiary admissions. Ordinarily, "[a] judicial admission is a statement made during the judicial proceeding or contained in a document filed with the court." Williams Nationalease, Ltd. v. Motter, 271 Ill. App. 3d 594, 597, 648 N.E.2d 614, 616 (1995).

"An admission by a party is substantive evidence admissible as an exception to the rule excluding hearsay. Ordinary evidentiary admissions may be contradicted or explained. M. Graham, Cleary & Graham's Handbook of Illinois Evidence