It appears that the Chicago Bears have finally found a quarterback and the team may actually be good. Check back in a month on that prediction of course.

After the convincing 36-10 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, most people were in a celebratory mood. We’ve waited a while to have a good team. That good mood apparently didn’t extend to two workers at the stadium.

According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, two food and beverage workers with ASM Global got into an altercation of some sort. The two of them worked in some capacity in food and beverage service. During the altercation, one of them stabbed the other with a knife, cutting them in the shoulder and face.

My wife saw the article and joked, “There’s a work comp case.” It might be, but there’s no way to tell from the article, although there are some clues.

The game ended around 3:30 p.m. and the fight took place at approximately 6:10 p.m. If you’ve been to a Bears game, you know that food and beverage service stops before the game ends, so it’s likely that work had already been completed. It wouldn’t surprise me if these two were off the clock when this happened.

What the article doesn’t tell us is what they were arguing about. Even if they were on the clock, it would only be a work comp case in Illinois if they were arguing about something work related. For example, if one of them was smoking a joint and not doing his job and the other one got mad about that and stabbed him, that could be a case. If the stabber did it because they were arguing over who messed something up, that would be a case.

But if the argument was over a girl or a bet on the game or the election or anything else that’s not a part of the job, it would not be a work comp case. Instead the only legal action the victim could take would be to sue the attacker. Similarly, if the victim was the aggressor in this case, even if they were arguing about work, it would not be a workers comp claim. In other words, if the victim got in the other guy’s face and acted like he was going to punch him for not doing his job, if he got stabbed as a result, it would still likely be a criminal case, but not work comp.

The whole situation sounds ridiculous and it’s very likely that one of them is going to jail for a bit for a very dumb reason. I hope it’s work comp because if it’s not, it’s doubtful that a lawsuit against the attacker would amount to anything. There’s a small chance that this worker has anything you’d be able to get in a lawsuit.

On the other hand, if it is work comp, the victim would at least have all of his medical bills paid, compensation for all of his time off work and would be eligible for a settlement some day. It doesn’t make getting attacked and slashed worth it, but hopefully it eases some of the burden.

And this is the legal analysis experienced Illinois work comp lawyers do any time someone says they were attacked at work. We need facts and context in order to help determine what your options are.