Summary
The Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District, affirmed dismissal of Peter Akemann’s claim seeking to continue serving as a Workers’ Compensation Commission arbitrator. The court held that Public Act 97-719 prospectively applied to the renewal term beginning July 1, 2012, giving the Governor exclusive authority to appoint arbitrators and rendering the Commission’s prior reappointment vote ineffective.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Public Act 97-719 applied to the three-year renewal term beginning July 1, 2012.
- Whether the Commission's May 2012 vote effectively reappointed Akemann before Public Act 97-719 took effect.
- Whether Akemann had a right to serve the claimed renewal term despite not being appointed by the Governor.
- Whether the trial court's dismissal could be affirmed without deciding the sovereign-immunity and declaratory-relief issues.
Holdings
- Public Act 97-719 applies to all Commission arbitrator terms beginning after its effective date, including Akemann's claimed renewal term beginning July 1, 2012, and gives the Governor exclusive authority to make the appointment.
- The Commission's May 2012 vote did not effectively reappoint Akemann because the statutory authority to recommend reappointment arose upon expiration of his term, and the vote was anticipatory; in any event, the Commission lacked appointment authority when the renewal term began.
- Akemann had no right to serve the claimed three-year renewal term, so his claim was properly dismissed under section 2-615.
Key quotations
“Public Act 97-719 clearly intended to give the Governor exclusive authority to make all renewal appointments starting after it went into effect.” (¶ 28)
“Where a statutory enactment is clear and unambiguous, a court is not at liberty to depart from the plain language and meaning of the statute by reading into it exceptions, limitations or conditions that the legislature did not express.” (¶ 29)
“The plain language of Public Act 97-719 gives exclusive authority to the Governor to appoint Commission arbitrators and applies to all terms starting after its effective date, including the term starting on July 1, 2012.” (¶ 35)
Factual background
Akemann had served as a Workers’ Compensation Commission arbitrator under successive appointments and was serving under a term expiring July 1, 2012. On May 23, 2012, the Commission voted to reappoint him to a three-year renewal term beginning July 1, 2012, under the then-existing statute. Before that renewal term began, Public Act 97-719 took effect on June 29, 2012, requiring all Commission arbitrators, including renewal appointments, to be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Commission rescinded its prior appointments, the Governor did not appoint Akemann to the renewal term, and Akemann ceased serving after the statutory 60-day holdover period.
Procedural history
Akemann sought a declaration that the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission's May 2012 vote lawfully reappointed him as an arbitrator and an injunction preventing his removal or replacement. The circuit court denied his motion for a preliminary injunction, and the appellate court affirmed that denial in an earlier interlocutory appeal. The circuit court later granted defendants' combined section 2-619.1 motion to dismiss, ruling that Public Act 97-719 applied, sovereign immunity barred injunctive relief, and declaratory relief was unavailable. The appellate court affirmed on the ground that Public Act 97-719 deprived Akemann of any right to the claimed renewal term.