This is just very sad.  From the Chicago Suntimes:

Swimmer drowns at indoor pool on NW Side

A man who was in the county on business dove into an indoor swimming pool at an apartment complex on the Northwest Side and apparently drowned Thursday night on the Northwest Side.

At 6:35 p.m. a 911 call after the man -- who was  identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office as 25-year-old Ashish Kumar -- was found at an indoor swimming pool at the Pavilion Apartments, at 5461 N. East River Rd., police said.

Pictures from a video camera showed the pool and a man walking out of the area, leaving Kumar by himself. Then Kumar dove into the deep end of the pool which is about 8 feet deep and the video showed him struggling to swim, panicking and then sinking to the bottom of the pool, police said.

The man who was there earlier came back and called someone from the building, who called 911. 

Kumar, 25, was was pronounced dead at 7:36 p.m. at Resurrection Medical Center, according to the medical examiner's office.

Police said Kumar was here on business and was staying at a corporate residence at 5441 N. East River Rd., police said.

Police said there is not a lifeguard on duty, but warning signs are posted.

Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said police began a death investigation at 6:50 p.m.

Foul play is not suspected and Grand Central Area detectives are investigating.

Not to be insensitive, but the purpose of this blog is education.  Since Mr. Kumar was here on business and was doing a reasonably foreseeable activity, his estate would have a workers' compensation claim in Illinois.  At the least like any other death case in Illinois they would have to pay all of his medical bills and $8,000 toward funeral costs.  If he had a wife or children they would get a minimum of $500,000.00 as a death benefit, likely more given his young age.

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A lawyer we know called us for our opinion about a potential client of his.  The client lives out of state, but was in Illinois for work doing construction.  After work he went with his co-workers to a local bar.  He had one beer and began to feel light-headed and his tongue went numb.  The next thing he remembers is that he woke up in the hospital.  He had walked out of the bar, in to the street and was hit by a car.  He believes that his drink was spiked, but has no proof of that.

Under Illinois workers compensation law, most injuries sustained by traveling employees are covered as work related injuries, even if they occur after work.  In one famous case, a man went to Hawaii for a business trip and in his free time took a bike tour through a volcano.  He had an accident and received Illinois workers' compensation benefits.

The theory behind this law is that it's foreseeable that a traveling employee would go out and enjoy themselves.  The exception is when an employee gets drunk as it is supposedly not foreseeable that would happen.  We think the courts ruled this way because they don't want to reward accidents from bad behavior.

In this case the guy didn't get drunk (apparently his boss was there and confirms that he only had one beer), but can't prove that he was drugged as nothing showed up in his system at the hospital.

Our take is that unless hospital records show he was in fact drunk or under the influence of recreational drugs (e.g. cocaine, heroin, etc.) then he will be treated like any other traveling employee who is hit by a car crossing the street.  It's reasonably foreseeable that could happen and as a result he should win benefits.

 We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact Us and we will answer your question or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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If you are injured on your way to to work or on the way home from the job, injuries are typically not covered under Illinois workers' compensation laws.  The exception is if you are a traveling employee.

Almost any injury involving a traveling employee is covered under the Illinois work comp Act.  In other words, if you are driving to a client site and get rear-ended then you get benefits.  If you are driving to your office and get rear-ended, while you can still sue that driver, you can't get workers' compensation help.

Being paid for travel to a job site is a strong indicator that you are a traveling employee.  In a recent case, a boilermaker died on the way home from a construction site.  Evidence that he was paid for the time spent traveling showed he was a traveling employee and was enough for his estate to win the case.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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We just took on the Illinois workers' compensation claim of a woman who severely injured her shoulder while at a bar riding a mechanical bull.  She didn't work at the bar, so how is this a claim?

This woman is an Illinois resident who was hurt while attending a seminar in another state.  As a result she is considered a traveling employee.  The law in Illinois work injury cases is that if you are a traveling employee, almost any injury you suffer while traveling for the benefit of your employer is covered as a work related injury.  In this case, even though she was out at a bar, the woman wouldn't have been in the bar or the state where she got hurt if it wasn't for employer.

It sounds like a crazy law, but it is what it is and it benefits workers.  You could be showering at home getting ready for work and slip and wouldn't have a case.  But if you were at a hotel and fell you would have a case.

The law originally rose from a worker that got hurt in Hawaii while riding a bicycle around a volcano.

So if you are a traveling employee and get hurt, even when you aren't furthering the interests of your employer, you might have a case.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.

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