Freeman United Coal Mining Co. v. Industrial Commission

Joe Griffith (claimant) filed an application for adjustment of claim pursuant to the Workers’ Occupational Diseases Act (the Act) (820 ILCS 310/1 et seq. (West 1994)) for injuries allegedly sustained to his lungs arising out of and in the course of his employment as a coal miner. The arbitrator awarded benefits. The Industrial Commission (Commission) reversed, finding that claimant’s condition of ill-being was solely related to his history of smoking. The circuit court reversed. For the reasons that follow, we conclude the Commission’s decision is not against the manifest weight of the…