Marc A. Perper

Partner

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.

Primary Practice Focus

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:

In-Depth Look

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. If you find yourself in a similar situation, contact Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates for a free case evaluation.

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 the 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.