Chicago Junction Ry. Co. v. Indus. Bd. of Illinois

• Decision Date: 06 April 1917
• Docket Number: No. 11153.,11153.
• Citation: 277 Ill. 512,115 N.E. 647
• Parties: CHICAGO JUNCTION RY. CO. v. INDUSTRIAL BOARD OF ILLINOIS et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

277 Ill. 512

115 N.E. 647

CHICAGO JUNCTION RY. CO.

v.INDUSTRIAL BOARD OF ILLINOIS et al.

No. 11153.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 21, 1917.

Rehearing Denied April 6, 1917.

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

Proceeding in behalf of William S. Peterson under the Workmen's Compensation Act to recover death compensation against the Chicago Junction Railway Company, the employer. From a judgment of the circuit court, confirming an award of the Industrial Board, the employer brings error. Affirmed.

Winston, Payne, Strawn & Shaw, of Chicago (John D. Black, of Chicago, of counsel), for plaintiff in error.

James C. McShane, of Chicago, for defendant in error.

COOKE, J.

This is a writ of error to review a judgment of the circuit court of Cook county approving and confirming an award of compensation by the Industrial Board of Illinois. William S. Peterson, a switchman employed by the Chicago Junction Railway Company, plaintiff in error, sustained a fatal injury on October 9, 1913, in the course of his employment. It is conceded on both sides that if Peterson was engaged in interstate commerce on behalf of his employer at the time he was injured the judgment should be reversed, as in that case the federal Employers' Liability Act would govern, and if he was engaged in intrastate commerce at the time he received his injury the judgment should be affirmed.

Practically all the facts are stipulated, and those concerning which testimony was given are not disputed. From the stipulation and the undisputed, facts it appears that Armour & Co. maintains and operates an extensive slaughtering and packing plant at the Union Stockyards in Chicago, and operates refrigerator cars in connection therewith. The plaintiff in error is a common carrier, and on the date of the accident was engaged in commerce between the several states, as well as within the state of Illinois. Armour & Co. maintained car shops in connection with its plant, and when its refrigerator cars were returned empty they were delivered to that company at its car shops and were there repaired, cleaned, and iced for the next trip. In order that cars would be sufficiently cooled to be loaded with meat, it was customary during certain seasons of the year that they be iced from 24 to 36 hours before being loaded. In Armour & Co.'s plant there are a number of yard or storage tracks, among them two known as tracks 22 and 23, which together hold between 30 and 35 cars. Upon these two tracks cars are delivered from the car shops, a distance of about three-quarters of a mile. Between tracks 22 and 23 is a track where the cars are re-iced while being switched, and to avoid delay and to insure that the cars would be sufficiently cooled, it was customary for plaintiff in error and Armour & Co. to keep tracks 22 and 23 practically filled with cars that had been iced at the car shops and were ready to be reiced and loaded with meat. The loading platform where the cars were loaded is about one-fourth of a mile distant from the two storage tracks 22 and 23. A different switching crew moves the cars from the storage tracks to the loading platform than that which moves the cars from the car shops to the storage tracks.

The deceased at the time of his injury was working as one of a switching crew which was engaged in moving 15 cars from the car shops to the storage tracks. This trian ran...