Chicago Dry Kiln Co. v. Indus. Bd.

• Decision Date: 09 February 1917
• Docket Number: No. 10911.,10911.
• Citation: 114 N.E. 1009,276 Ill. 556
• Parties: CHICAGO DRY KILN CO. v. INDUSTRIAL BOARD et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

276 Ill. 556

114 N.E. 1009

CHICAGO DRY KILN CO.

v.INDUSTRIAL BOARD et al.

No. 10911.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 21, 1916.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 9, 1917.

Error to Circuit Court, Cook County; Oscar M. Torrison, Judge.

Proceedings by W. W. Jackson, employé, for workman's compensation, opposed by the Chicago Dry Kiln Company, employer. Certiorari to review decision of the Industrial Board awarding compensation. To review a judgment of the circuit court confirming the award, the employer brings error. Affirmed.

Cooke, J., dissenting.

Adams, Crews, Bobb & Wescott, of Chicago, for plaintiff in error.

George E. Gorman, of Chicago, for defendants in error.

CRAIG, C. J.

Defendant in error W. W. Jackson (hereinafter called the ‘applicant’) was an employé of plaintiff in error (hereinafter called the ‘company’) as a night watchman. The company was engaged in drying lumber and operating planing mills, its plant covering several blocks in the city of Chicago. There were also on the premises of the company several buildings occupied by tenants, one of the buildings being occupied by Anderson & Shumaker as a blacksmith shop. Applicant's duties required him to watch the property of the company, and in so doing to make the rounds of the premises of the company and the premises of the respective tenants, including Anderson & Shumaker, every hour. In so doing he was required to walk about four blocks and was required to ‘pull’ eleven ‘boxes' located in various parts of the premises of the company, one being in the shop of Anderson & Shumaker. The applicant had been employed as watchman for the company about five years, and on May 29, 1914, went to work as usual about 6 o'clock p. m. In making his rounds, when he arrived at the blacksmith shop he found three men there-Hard, King, and Miller, employés of Anderson & Shumaker. King asked permission to leave his motorcycle in the blacksmith shop. Applicant apparently was not acquainted with King, but was assured by the other two that he was an employé, and gave his consent. King tossed him a dime, which fell to the ground, and the applicant picked it up. Applicant went on about his duties, and in making the next round of the premises returned to the blacksmith shop about 7 o'clock. King was inside. Applicant again returned to the blacksmith shop about 8 o'clock. At this time the door of the blacksmith shop was locked and King was outside in the street or alley with his motorcycle. Applicant unlocked the blacksmith shop and went inside and hid the lock, with the intention, as he stated, of changing the lock or putting another one on the door. He returned to the blacksmith shop again about 9 o'clock. King, who in the meantime had become intoxicated, demanded the lock from applicant, and upon applicant's refusal to give it to him struck at the applicant, who punched or struck at King with a cane which he carried and broke it. During the scuffle, applicant, in trying to get away through the door and prevent King from getting the lock, as he claimed, caught his foot on the sill and fell and received the injuries complained of, which consisted of a fracture of the neck of the thigh bone.

Commencing June 6, 1914, a week after the accident, the company paid the applicant compensation at the rate of $7.50 a week for a period of 41 weeks and then refused to continue making further payments. He then filed his application for an adjustment of claim with the Industrial Board. A committee of arbitration was appointed, as provided by the act, which heard the evidence of both parties and rendered its decision finding that the applicant was entitled to recover from the company $7.50 a week for a period of 416 weeks and was entitled to a pension of $10 a month thereafter during life. The company filed with the Industrial Board its petition for review of the decision of the committee on arbitration, alleging that the applicant was not totally disabled or incapacitated, that the alleged injuries did not arise out of the course of his employment, and that his present alleged incapacity did not result from the alleged accident. The Industrial Board rendered its decision finding that both the parties to the proceeding were at the time of the accident operating under and subject to all the terms and provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act, that the accident for which compensation was claimed arose out of and occurred in the course of the applicant's employment, that his wages for the purpose of the proceeding were $15 per week, and that he was then totally and permanently disabled. The board confirmed the decision of the committee of arbitration, except that it ordered that after the expiration of the 416 weeks, for which the applicant was to be paid at the rate of $7.50 a week, he should receive from the company an annual pension of $249.60, payable in installments of $20.80 per month, for the remainder of his life, being 8 per cent. of the total amount which would have been due him had death resulted from the accident. The company then filed a praecipe with the clerk of the circuit court of Cook county for a writ of certiorari to the Industrial Board, which was issued and served upon the secretary of the board. On July 8, 1916, the court entered a judgment approving and confirming the finding of the Industrial Board and certified that the cause was one proper to be reviewed by the Supreme Court, and the company sued out this writ of error.

Two points are raised in the briefs: (1) The injury the applicant received did not arise out of and in the course of his employment in a business or enterprise under the Workmen's...