Appellate Court Reverses Duty Disability Denial Where the Decision Did Not Adequately Address Causation
By: Thomas S. Radja Jr.
The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the circuit court’s reversal of the Dolton Police Pension Board’s denial of line‑of‑duty disability benefits to Officer Theresa Guess. In this case, the Appellate Court held the Board’s no-causation finding was against the
manifest weight of the evidence.
Theresa Guess, a Dolton police officer hired in 2009 with no prior seizure or psychiatric history, was in an on‑duty crash on September 27, 2018. She was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome and soon reported passing out, headaches, and later
seizure‑like episodes. Her treating neurologist initially diagnosed epileptic seizures. Subsequent evaluations and EEG established psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES), not epilepsy.
The Board retained two neurologists, Dr. Bernstein and Dr. Savino and one psychiatrist, Dr. Weine, to evaluate disability and causation. Dr.’s Bernstein and Savino opined Guess had PNES and was not disabled due to epilepsy, recommending psychiatric care. Dr. Savino stated the disability was not a “direct result” of the accident but did not address contribution. Dr. Weine diagnosed PNES, somatic symptom disorder, and substance‑induced mood disorder, and opined these were a direct result of the 2018
on‑duty crash. Rush epilepsy psychiatry notes documented onset after the crash and discussed plausible accident‑related stress mechanisms for PNES.
The Board denied line‑of‑duty benefits, awarded non‑duty benefits, and found no causal nexus to the accident. In reversing the decision of the Board, the Illinois Appellate Court noted that Causation under the Pension Code requires only that an act of
duty be a causative factor, not the sole or direct cause. In this case, the Appellate Court determined the Pension Board overemphasized the psychiatric nature of PNES while discounting its own psychiatrist’s clear accident‑causation opinion. The Court reasoned that given the undisputed post‑accident onset and expert psychiatric causation, the opposite conclusion was clearly evident, that the work injury was a causative factor in the disability and reversed the Pension Board’s denial of duty disability benefits.
It is important for a Pension Board to have its experts opine not only on the direct cause of a disability, but it should make sure the experts address whether the duty injury was a “causative factor” in the disability to avoid any confusion.
Guess v. Dolton Police Pension Fund, Illinois Appellate Court, First District, Decided August 3, 2026.
(c) Radja Collins Law 2026, all rights reserved.