Moergen v. Indus. Comm'n
| Decision Date | 18 September 1946 |
| Docket Number | No. 29463.,29463. |
| Citation | 68 N.E.2d 740,394 Ill. 383 |
| Parties | MOERGEN v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Error to Circuit Court, Madison County; Edward F. Bareis, judge.
Workman's compensation proceeding by Clarence Moergen, employee, opposed by the Glidden Company, employer. To review a judgment of circuit court reversing and setting aside decision of Industrial Commission which set aside a decision of arbitrator awarding temporary compensation at rate of $16.50 per week for period of 15 weeks, the employer brings error.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded with directions.Angerstein & Angerstein, of Chicago, and Warnock, Williamson, & Burroughs, of Edwardsville (Thomas C. Angerstein and George W. Angerstein, both of Chicago, and George D. Burroughs, of Edwardsville, of counsel), for plaintiff in error.
Meyer & Meyer, of East St. Louis (Stanford S. Meyer, Foss D. Meyer, and Joseph L. Delaurenti, all of East St. Louis, of counsel), for defendant in error.
Clarence Moergen, defendant in error, filed an application for adjustment of claim with the Industrial Commission, alleging that while employed by the Glidden Company, plaintiff in error, he had become disabled from lead poisoning. The arbitrator found he had sustained a disablement, not as yet permanent, and awarded temporary compensation at the rate of $16.50 per week for a period of 15 weeks. Both Moergen and the company petitioned the Industrial Commission for a review, each being dissatisfied with the decision. The Industrial Commission, after hearing additional evidence, set aside the decision and entered a finding that defendant in error had not sustained a disablement due to an occupational disease contracted in the course of his employment for which compensation was payable. On certiorari the circuit court of Madison county reversed and set aside the decision of the commission, holding it to be contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence, and entered judgment, awarding compensation in the sum of $16.50 per week for a period of 95 weeks, as provided in section 19(b) of the Workmen's Occupational Diseases Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1945, chap. 48, par. 172.19), for the reason that the disablement had not yet reached a permanent condition at the time of the hearing before the Industrial Commission. The cause is now here on writ of error granted by this court.
Plaintiff in error owns and operates a plant at Collinsville, where it manufactures lithopone, a pigment used in the manufacture of paints, rubber, paper and other materials. Defendant in error was employed at the plant from June 11, 1937, to August 15, 1942, as a helper in the zinc department, where zinc crude materials were dissolved in sulphuric acid and made into a zinc sulphate solution which was used in the manufacture of the lithopone. He worked steadily, losing very little time, until he left his employment on August 15, 1942, by reason of being drafted in the United States Army. On August 2, 1943, he received his discharge and in about two weeks thereafter began working at the shipyards in St. Louis, leaving there after one week because he could not work up high on the ships without becoming dizzy and nervous. About two weeks after he left the shipyards, he obtained employment with the Chevrolet Company and worked there one month. His claim for compensation was filed with the commission on October 6, 1943, a little over a year after he entered the Army and evidently during the time he was working for the Chevrolet Company.
Defendant in error testified that he worked regularly in the zinc department of the Glidden Company until going into the Army; that he handled zinc ore in his work; that he put it in the tanks for processing; that he broke up zinc skimmings with a sledge hammer and threw them into the tanks; that he took the lithopone coming off the filter and put it into pans which he pushed in the oven for drying; that he loaded and unloaded cars, and did other work in the yards. He testified he had yellow jaundice in 1941, but there is no claim or contention that this was in any way connected with, or caused by, his employment. He testified further that he had trouble with his stomach, off and on, all the time, depending upon what he ate; that too much heavy food, starches and meat, caused him to have stomach cramps; that the doctor sent him to the hospital for X rays, gave him medicine to build up his system, and put him on a diet which he followed for about a month; that this trouble with his stomach continued all the time he was in the Army and after he was discharged and still continues. He testified that while he was in the Army his back bothered him; that he was nervous and his hands would cramp; that each day during his two weeks army basic training, he fell out of the march after going about ten miles; that the marching bothered his legs and they would hurt from the knees down and become stiff following a march. He further testified that there had been no change in his condition since he was discharged from the Army; that he had gotten no better and no worse since he left the employment of the Glidden Company; that it all depends upon what he eats, and that he felt the same when working for the Chevrolet Company as he did when working for plaintiff in error. At the hearing before the commission on June 13, 1944, he testified that the only work he had done since being discharged from the Army, except gardening and a little work around the house, was at the shipyards and for the Chevrolet Company; that every other day he worked a little in the garden, but would become tired and his legs would pain him, requiring him to stop and rest.
Plaintiff in error introduced no evidence before the arbitrator, and defendant in error's evidence consisted of his own testimony and that of E. R. Williams, manager of plaintiff in error's Collinsville plant, W. G. Appleton, a medical technologist, and Drs. James F. McFadden and J. J. Panepinto.
Williams testified that in the zinc department zinc crude materials were dissolved in sulphuric acid and made into zinc sulphate, that the ore used did not contain any lead, but that some of it would contain lead sulphate and some would not; that the lead sulphate in such crude zinc materials as contained would run between 4 and 5 per cent; that this lead sulphate they just filtered out, that no free lead-which is...
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...clearly and manifestly against the weight of the evidence. Boutwell v. Industrial Comm., 408 Ill. 11, 95 N.E.2d 916; Moergen v. Industrial Comm., 394 Ill. 383, 68 N.E.2d 740; Copas v. Industrial Comm., 349 Ill. 262, 182 N.E. While it is true that the opinions expressed by the medical expert......
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...and manifestly contrary to the weight of the evidence. Cruthis v. Industrial Comm., 394 Ill. 506, 68 N.E.2d 744;Moergen v. Industrial Comm., 394 Ill. 383, 68 N.E.2d 740;Turner v. Industrial Comm., 393 Ill. 528, 66 N.E.2d 674. Stated somewhat differently, a decision of the Industrial Commiss......
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Crepps v. Indus. Comm'n
...rule is just as applicable to findings and orders denying compensation as to those which support awards allowing it. Moergen v. Industrial Com., 394 Ill. 383, 68 N.E.2d 740. It is not the province of the courts to try disputed questions of fact and to weigh the evidence thereon and set asid......
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