Boorde v. Indus. Comm'n
| Decision Date | 07 December 1923 |
| Docket Number | No. 15405.,15405. |
| Citation | 310 Ill. 62,141 N.E. 399 |
| Parties | BOORDE et al. v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Error to Circuit Court, Vermilion County; John H. Marshall, Judge.
Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act (Hurd's Rev. St. 1921, c. 48, §§ 126-152i) by John Benham and another for the death of their daughter, Caroline Benham, opposed by E. J. Boorde and others, employers, doing business as the Hoopeston Telephone Company. An arbitrator made an award, which the Industrial Commission set aside and the circuit court quashed a writ of certiorari to review that order, and claimants bring error.
Order affirmed.
Jones & Levin, of Danville, for plaintiffs in error.
Thomas H. Murray, of Chicago, for defendant in error.
Caroline Benham, a girl 17 years old, employed by the defendants in error, doing business as the Hoopeston Telephone Company, was killed by falling down an elevator shaft on January 26, 1922. Her parents claimed compensation, and an arbitrator made an award of $1,650, which the Industrial Commission set aside. The circuit court of Vermilion county quashed a writ of certiorari sued out to review the order of the commission, and a writ of error was allowed to the claimants to bring the record before us for review.
The only question is whether the death arose out of and in the course of the employment. Caroline Benham had been in the employment of the defendants in error as a telephone operator for about a year. The regular hours of her employment were from 8 o'clock in the morning to 1 in the afternoon and from 6 to 9 in the evening. She was entitled to a rest period of 30 minutes, which was allowed to all the operators, because it was supposed to add to their efficiency. Her rest period was from 10:30 to 11. The operators were also permitted to exchange hours, and on January 26 Caroline exchanged time with another girl, and in consequence was on duty from 3 to 6 in the afternoon, with a rest period of thirty minutes from 3:30 to 4, while the other girl was to take Caroline's time from 6 to 9. During the rest period the operators were permitted to go freely whereever they chose. No rest room or other special place was provided for them, but they were left wholly to their own devices, and might leave the premises altogether. They sometimes rode up and down in the elevator of the building merely for recreation.
The telephone exchange was on the third floor of the Willdon Building-a five-story building which fronts west on Market street, the first floor of which was occupied by a department store. There were two elevators near the northwest corner of the building, running from the basement to the fifth floor. The entrance to the elevators was from the south, and the north wall of the elevator shaft was the north wall of the building. There was a space of about a foot from the elevator to the north wall of the shaft. On the north side of the west elevator, in the northeast corner, there was a second door, and on the third floor there was an opening in the north wall of the building into a covered way, which connected that floor with the third floor of the McFerren Bank Building, which was north of the Willdon Building and across an alley. When the elevator was at the third floor of the building, the door in the northeast corner of the elevator was opposite the opening to this covered way. Immediately over this covered way were windows in the north wall of the building on the fourth and fifth floors. These windows were 3 feet wide and at least 5 feet high. They were set back in the wall about 4 inches, and the ledge inside slanted down to the inside of the wall. When the floor of the elevator was opposite the fifth floor, it was also opposite this slanting ledge.
Miss Benham got on the elevator at the third floor at 3:30 o'clock, and rode down to the first floor. She operated the elevator going down, and afterward ran it from the first to the fifth floor, stopping it about 4 inches below the floor, because, if it went too far above, as Inez Sargent, the operator, testified, ‘the car goes off.’ Miss Benham opened the north door and sat on the ledge of the window, saying she wanted to see what time it was. There was a clock tower and a clock, which could be seen from this north window. Inez opened the south door and...
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...Comm., 387 Ill. 484, 56 N.E.2d 786;Mt. Olive & Staunton Coal Co. v. Industrial Comm., 374 Ill. 461, 30 N.E.2d 32;Boorde v. Industrial Comm., 310 Ill. 62, 141 N.E. 399. There must be a causal connection between the conditions existing on the employer's premises and the injury to the employee......
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...employment when it belongs to or is connected with what a workman has to do in fulfilling his contract of service. Boorde v. Industrial Comm., 310 Ill. 62, 141 N.E. 399. A prerequisite to the right to compensation is that the accidental injury must arise out of, as well as occur in the cour......
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...employment when it belongs to or is connected with what a workman has to do in fulfilling his contract of service. Boorde v. Industrial Commission, 310 Ill. 62, 141 N.E. 399. A prerequisite to the right to compensation is that the accidental injury must arise out of, as well as occur in the......
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...825. (Italics ours.) See, also, Illinois Country Club v. Industrial Comm., 387 Ill. 484, 487, 488, 56 N.E.2d 786. In Boorde v. Industrial Comm., 310 Ill. 62, 141 N.E. 399, the deceased was employed by the Hoopeston Telephone Company as a telephone operator. Her regular hours of employment w......