Hartford Accident & Indem. Co. v. Indus. Comm'n

• Decision Date: 23 April 1926
• Docket Number: No. 17163.,17163.
• Citation: 320 Ill. 544,151 N.E. 495
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Parties: HARTFORD ACCIDENT & INDEMNITY CO. v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al.

320 Ill. 544

151 N.E. 495

HARTFORD ACCIDENT & INDEMNITY CO.

v.INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al.

No. 17163.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April 23, 1926.

Error to Circuit Court, Cook County; Henry M. Fisher, Judge.

Petition by the Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company against the Industrial Commission and another, for a cessation of payments of compensation to the estate of John Wahlstrom, deceased. The Industrial Commission denied the petition, which finding was approved by the circuit court on certiorari, and petitioner brings error.

Judgment of circuit court reversed, and cause remanded.

Moloney & Postelnek, of Chicago (Peter Postelnek, of Chicago, of counsel), for plaintiff in error.

Soelke, Johnson & Koehn, of Chicago, for defendant in error.

STONE, J.

This is a writ of error to the circuit court of Cook county to review the record of that court sustaining the finding of the Industrial Commission which denied the petition of plaintiff in error for cessation of payments of compensation to the estate of John Wahlstrom, deceased. It appears from the record that during his lifetime Wahlstrom was injured while in the employ of A. Knight, and on April 25, 1922, Knight and Wahlstrom, together with the plaintiff in error indemnity company, entered into an agreement in settlement of Wahlstrom's claim for compensation. By this agreement Wahlstrom was to be paid $1,650 for injuries received, at the rate of $12 per week for 291 weeks and $8 for one week, with a pension for life of $23.33 per month. The agreement sets forth that the employer denied that the disability was the result of the injury and denied liability because no demand for compensation was made until about 17 months after the accident. The employer by the agreement agrees that he will not seek diminution or suspension of the amount agreed upon and the employee agrees that he will not seek an increase thereof. Weekly payments were to begin as of December 1, 1920, and the record shows that by reason of the agreement a total of $1,164 has been paid. On September 24, 1922, Wahlstrom died from causes which it is stipulated were other than the injury received while in the employment of Knight. Subsequent to Wahlstrom'sdeath Knight also died, and plaintiff in error stopped payment of further compensation, and thereafter filed a petition with the Industrial Commission under section 21 of the Workmen's Compensation Act (Smith-Hurd Rev. St. 1925, c. 48, § 158), praying that a finding be entered that liability for said payments had ceased. On consideration of the petition the Industrial Commission on December 22, 1924, found the facts in accordance with the stipulation filed, but also found that the right to compensation under the terms of the settlement contract was not extinguished by the death of Wahlstrom. This finding was approved on certiorari by the circuit court.

Plaintiff in error contends that under section 21 of the Workmen's Compensation Act liability to pay compensation was extinguished by the death of Wahlstrom. That section, so far as it relates to this matter, is as follows:

‘Any right to receive compensation hereunder shall be extinguished by the death of the person or persons entitled thereto, subject to the provisions of this act relative to compensation for death received in the course of employment.’ Smith's Stat. 1925, p. 1291.

The language of section 21 is plain and provides that, in cases where payments are being made to the applicant, the right that shall be extinguished by the death of the person or persons entitled thereto shall be ‘any right to receive...