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Norris v. The Industrial Commission6/1/2000
Claimant, Arthur Norris, sought benefits under the Workers' Compensation Act (the Act)(820 ILCS 305/1 et seq. (West 1996)), for injuries sustained on March 2, 1993, while in the employ of John Deere Harvester Works (Deere). The arbitrator found a that claimant suffered an accident arising out of and in the course of claimant's employment and awarded claimant 27 1/7 weeks of temporary total disability benefits as well as a permanent partial disability benefit for 12.5% loss of the person as a whole. Disagreeing with the amounts of the award, claimant filed a petition for review with the Illinois Industrial Commission (Commission). Deere filed a motion to dismiss claimant's petition for review as being untimely. The Commission ruled that claimant's petition was untimely and granted Deere's motion to dismiss. Claimant then filed a petition for review with the Circuit Court of Rock Island County. The circuit court, Judge Ronald C. Taber presiding, denied the claimant's petition and confirmed the decision of the Commission. This appeal ensued.
At issue is whether a petition for review is considered to be timely filed with the Commission if the petition is placed in the mail on the thirtieth day after the claimant received the decision of the arbitrator. We hold that a petition for review is filed with the Commission when it is placed in the mail.
On July 13, 1998, the decision of Arbitrator James Giordano was filed with the Commission. Return receipt forms in the record show that claimant's attorney received the decision on July 20, 1998. Section 19(b) of the Act requires that petitions for review must be filed within 30 days of receipt of the arbitrator's decision. (820 ILCS 305/19(b)(West 1996)) The parties agree that the last day for filing a Petition for Review was August 19, 1998. An express mail receipt in the record establishes that the claimant's attorney placed the petition in the mail on August 19, 1998. The Petition was file-stamped by the Commission on August 20, 1998.
Deere filed a motion to dismiss claimant's petition contending that the "filing" requirement of Section 19(b) of the Act requires actual physical receipt of the petition by the Commission on or before the due date. Claimant, relying upon section 1.25 of the Statute on Statutes (5 ILCS 70/1.25 (West 1996)), maintained that "filing" under the Act was accomplished upon placing the petition in the mail properly posted and addressed to the Commission. The Commission held that only actual receipt of the petition constituted "filing" under the Act. The circuit court confirmed the decision of the Commission.
The issue at hand, what constitutes "filing" under section 19(b) of the Act, is a matter of statutory construction, which is a question of law that this court considers de novo. Branson v. Department of Revenue, 168 Ill. 2d 247, 254 (1995).
Section 19(b) of the Act provides in relevant part that: "Unless a petition for review is filed by either party within 30 days after the receipt by such party of the copy of the decision * * * then the decision shall become the decision of the Commission and in the absence of fraud shall be conclusive." 820 ILCS 305/19(b) (West 1996).
We must determine what the legislature intended by use of the term "filed." The fundamental tenet of statutory construction requires a court to determine the intent of the legislature as it is revealed in the plain and unambiguous language in a statute. City of East St. Louis v. Union Electric Co., 37 Ill. 2d 537, 542 (1967). Whenever a word or phrase used-in a statute becomes an issue in a case, "its strict meaning is not as important as the sense in which it was used by the lawmaking body." East St. Lo
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