Lelis v. Board of Trustees of the Cicero Police Pension Fund

(Court opinion corrected 6/4/13.) Police officer filed application for line of duty disability benefits in 2011, for low back condition and lupus. Officer had previously applied for line of duty disability benefits in 2000, for low back injuries from lifting dead body onto stretcher. Pension Board had jurisdiction to decide officer's 2011 application, and was not barred from considering merits of application. At hearings, officer stated that since time of prior injury of 1998, her back injury was increasingly degenerative, worsened due to separate diagnosis of lupus. Extent of back injury and issue of lupus are to be decided at full hearing on application, not summarily dismissed. Inclusion of additional and independent basis for benefits was sufficient to allege a new claim, and thus officer was not required to provide evidence at preliminary stage of proceedings before Board. (NEVILLE and STERBA, concurring.)