Owens v. Industrial Commission

Petitioners, Tina Mitchell Owens, Rickie Shane Owens, Loran James Owens and Kimberly Dawn Blair, the minor children of decedent, Rickie L. Owens, sought workers’ compensation benefits after decedent died of a drug overdose eight months after suffering an accident while working for respondent, Bollmeier Construction Company. An arbitrator found the claim was barred as a matter of law because a judgment in prior litigation resolved the identical issue between the same parties. (Owens v. Consolidation Coal Co. (1986), 144 Ill. App. 3d 88, 494 N.E.2d 274.) The Industrial Commission (Commission)…