Hundreds, if not thousands, of working men and women in Illinois may benefit from Marc Perper having convinced the Illinois Supreme Court to reverse an appellate court decision in 2010.
Since 1984, Marc A. Perper has practiced at the law firm of Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates, Ltd., concentrating on workers’ compensation law. Clients state that Marc excels at keeping them well informed with his kind and caring manner. Besides prosecuting claims under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Diseases Acts at trial and on appeal, Marc has handled civil appeals in state and federal courts. He also has assisted in preparing and trying personal injury cases in the areas of:
- construction negligence
- the Structural Work Act
- products liability
- medical malpractice
- federal civil rights
The most recent highlight of Marc’s career as an appellate lawyer occurred in January 2010, when the Illinois Supreme Court reversed a state appellate court ruling involving an injured worker’s right to receive temporary total disability (“TTD”) benefits under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act.
The court held that when an employer fires an individual while the person is on temporary light duty – regardless of whether the firing is for “cause” – the employer must reinstate weekly disability benefits. Marc prevailed in the state’s highest court after Horwitz, Horwitz &Associates, Ltd. battled for its client in an arbitration proceeding, before a three-judge panel at the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, and in the circuit and appellate courts.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of working men and women in Illinois may benefit from this decision. Injured workers who lose weekly disability benefits are extremely vulnerable; they cannot work and do not qualify for unemployment since they are not eligible to look for work. Often they lose cars, homes and even families when employers resort to such punitive tactics.
Among Marc’s other Illinois Supreme and Appellate Court cases in the workers’ compensation field have been controversies involving vocational rehabilitation, extraterritorial jurisdiction, penalties, calculation of earnings, whether an injury arose “out of” and “in the course of” employment, compensation for temporary total disability, and emergency hearing procedures. He has also handled leading Supreme and Appellate Court cases involving construction-related injuries and product liability.
A former member of two unions, Marc belonged to the Service Employees International Union Local 236 (now Local 1) and the Chicago Federation of Musicians. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling and playing keyboards.
Marc’s dedication to working men and women was inspired by his maternal grandfather, Sam Schwartz, who emigrated from the Russian Empire and toiled for many years in Canada and the United States as a tailor before retiring on a union pension. When Sam died in 1976 at the age of 90, he was still carrying his Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America union card in his wallet.
In addition to his undergraduate degree from University of Illinois at Chicago and his law degree from IIT/Chicago-Kent College of Law, Marc holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, where he concentrated his studies in American government.
Honors and Awards
Marc is one of four Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates lawyers who have been recognized as Illinois Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.
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| Marc A. Perper |
Civic and Charitable Associations
Marc has performed volunteer work for the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois. Marc is a past director of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy support groups at Loyola University Medical Center and Hinsdale Hospital.
Pro Bono
Through his local synagogue, Marc has worked with lawyers, accountants, and tax professionals in assisting individuals who cannot afford to hire tax preparers to help file tax returns and obtain the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-wage workers. Marc also has handled no-fee appointive work in federal court in the areas of disability law and employment discrimination.
Professional Associations
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Workers’ Compensation Lawyers Association, Chicago Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, American Bar Association, Workplace Injury Litigation Group
Publications and Presentations
Marc is known widely for his ability to answer workers’ compensation questions clearly and concisely. A charismatic speaker, Marc has addressed an array of labor, consumer, civic and professional organizations, including unions representing carpenters, ironworkers, teamsters, laborers, plumbers and pipefitters, sprinklerfitters, tilesetters, electricians, firefighters and cement masons.
He has answered questions relating to workers’ compensation and workplace injuries in the “Ask an Attorney” column in the Joliet Herald News and has contributed a monthly column on workers’ compensation issues to the Fox Valley Labor News. Marc has also made numerous seminar presentations at continuing legal education events, including the following:
- Speaker, “Interstate Scaffolding: The Supreme Court Speaks,” Worker’s Compensation Lawyers’ Association seminar, Feb. 24, 2010
- Speaker, “Interstate Scaffolding: Cutting off Benefits after Termination for Cause,” Workers’ Compensation Lawyers’ Association seminar, Nov. 13, 2008
- Speaker, “Medical Bills and the Medical Fee Schedule: Getting Them in and Getting Them Awarded,” Workers’ Compensation Lawyers’ Association seminar, June 24, 2008
- Speaker, “Filing and Responding to Your First Workers’ Compensation Claim,” Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education seminar on workers’ compensation, May 2 and 11, 2007
- Speaker, “Advanced Workers’ Compensation Practice: Impact of the New Law,” Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education seminar on workers’ compensation, Aug. 11, 2006
- Speaker, “Recent Developments in Workers’ Compensation Law,” Chicago Bar Association seminar on workers’ compensation, Jan. 11, 1996
- Speaker, “Living and Coping with Arthritis” (on workers’ compensation and Social Security Disability issues), Arthritis Foundation seminar, Mount Sinai Hospital, Chicago, March 23, 1996
Education
- Chicago-Kent College of Law, IIT (J.D., high honors, 1984)
- University of Illinois, Urbana (M.A., 1978)
- University of Illinois, Chicago (B.A., with honors, 1975)
Admissions
- Illinois, 1984
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 1984
- Federal Trial Bar, 1988
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1985
- U.S. Supreme Court, 1987
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