In a case that involved an award of attorney’s fees requested by an association of manufacturing concerns, that had filed a restraining order and complaint for an injunction against the Illinois Worker’s Compensation Commission (or “IWCC”), in response to an emergency rule put into effect by the IWCC, for emergency first responders and frontline workers to obtain benefits in the event they contracted COVID-19 (due to the rebuttable evidentiary presumption at arbitration that their exposure was due to the nature of their employment). See Court’s TRO on IWCC’s emergency rule doesn’t trigger attorney’s fee statute. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Law Bulletin, Volume 29, Issue 11, August 13, 2021, pp. 7-8.[1] The case discussed in the article, Illinois Manufacturers’ Association v. Brennan (IWCC), 29 ILWCLB 120 (Ill. App. Ct. 4th Dist. 2021), involved an association of manufacturers and various industries that filed the aforesaid restraining order and complaint for injunction in a local circuit court against the IWCC, to enjoin the application of the IWCC’s aforementioned emergency responder COVID-19 presumption rule at arbitration hearings. The association asserted that the IWCC vastly exceeded and went beyond its statutory and administrative authority in enacting the emergency presumption rule, which therefore made the rule invalid and legally void.[2] The circuit court shortly thereafter granted the association’s motion for a (temporary) restraining order, enjoining the IWCC from enforcement of its emergency rule, while the court decided the substantive merits of the association’s complaint for an injunction against the aforesaid rule. In the meantime, the IWCC convened an emergency meeting and repealed the aforesaid emergency rule (thus rendering the association’s injunction complaint moot).[3] The IWCC then filed a section 5/2-619 motion to dismiss the complaint for injunction, which the circuit court granted, due to the association’s complaint being mooted by the IWCC’s repeal of its contested rule. The association then filed a petition for attorney’s fees, which the circuit court granted, but which the appellate court later reversed, holding that, since the emergency rule had not been dismissed by the circuit court, and was instead repealed by the IWCC, the aforesaid rule was not dismissed by court action (which meant that the association was not entitled to any award of attorney’s fees).[4] Moreover, the fact that the lower court had granted the association’s temporary restraining order was irrelevant to the issue of whether the association was entitled to it attorney’s fees, as the granting of the restraining order was not an adjudication on the merits of the association’s injunction complaint, including the underlying issue of the validity of the IWCC’s emergency rule, and was instead only a temporary stay on the enforcement of the IWCC’s rule.[5] This case illustrates the point that statutory and procedural technicalities can substantively affect a party’s rights to something, including the award of attorney’s fees.[6]
[1] Court’s TRO on IWCC’s emergency rule doesn’t trigger attorney’s fee statute. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Law Bulletin, Volume 29, Issue 11, August 13, 2021, pp. 7-8.
[2]See Id.
[3]See Id.
[4]See Id.
[5]See Id.
[6]See Id.