Ill. Court Settles Jurisdiction Question and Finds for Consolidation Coal Co. Miner

Mount Vernon, Ill. — An Illinois appellate court has affirmed a ruling by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission awarding 5 percent disability benefits to an in-state claimant who last worked as a miner in West Virginia and Utah.

The Appellate Court of Illinois Fifth District, Workers’ Compensation Commission Division, ruled Aug. 7 that the commission’s determination that the contract between claimant Roy Yanez and Consolidation Coal Co. occurred in Illinois and gave the commission jurisdiction despite the location of the last job site, was not against the manifest weight of evidence.

Yanez sought benefits for pneumoconiosis and other coal-dust related …