Republic Iron & Steel Co. v. Indus. Comm'n

• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: DUNCAN
• Citation: Republic Iron & Steel Co. v. Indus. Comm'n , 302 Ill. 401, 134 N.E. 754 (Ill. 1922)
• Decision Date: 05 April 1922
• Docket Number: No. 14121.,14121.
• Parties: REPUBLIC IRON & STEEL CO. v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al.

302 Ill. 401

134 N.E. 754

REPUBLIC IRON & STEEL CO.

v.INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al.

No. 14121.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 22, 1922.

Rehearing Denied April 5, 1922.

Error to Circuit Court, Rock Island County; F. D. Ramsay, Judge.

Proceedings under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Maude Moore to recover compensation for the death of her husband, Charles E. Moore, opposed by the Republic Iron & Steel Company, employer. The award of compensation by the Industrial Commission was quashed by the circuit court, and claimant brings error.

Judgment of the circuit court reversed, and cause remanded, with directions.

[1] Taking the facts as stated in the petition,

Contributory negligence does not bar compensation. Contributory negligence of the party injured is no bar to recovery under the Workmen's Compensation Act.

G. C. Wenger and W. C. Allen, both of Rock Island, for plaintiff in error.

Kenworthy, Dietz, Shallberg, Harper & Sinnett, of Moline, for defendant in error.

DUNCAN, J.

Charles E. Moore prior to his death had been an employee of defendant in error, the Republic Iron & Steel Company, at Moline, for 20 years, and during the last 5 years of his life was storekeeper and had charge of the stores. He worked 7 days a week and was paid for Sunday work. A part of his work was to go to Moline to do chores, to get bolts, nuts, and like things, and he was often sent to trains with mail. The last day he worked, Sunday, January 23, 1916, he left his home at 6 o'clock for his place of work. On that morning he checked up his store books and swept and mopped the floors. At about 11:20 o'clock a. m. J. E. N. Olson, chief clerk of defendant in error, gave Moore a letter written for the company, with directions to him to take it to the Rock Island station in Moline and mail it on the train going east at 1:20 o'clock p. m. The record does not disclose the time that Moore left the plant to mail the letter, and the record leaves it uncertain as to what route he took to reach the station. Olson testified that he handed him a letter and told him to take the street car for the train. He also testified that Moore afterwards told him at the hospital that he did not take the car, but walked the entire way from the plant down to the station on the railroad track. No one else seems to have heard this conversation. An employee of the steel company testified that Olson handed Moore the letter to take to the train and handed him a dime for street car fare, but did not hear Moore make any reply and did not hear Olson give him any directions when he gave him the dime. Gust Garke, a 12 year old boy, testified that he was at the depot, heard the train, ran to the door, saw a man get off a Third avenue street car and run up to hand the baggageman a letter, saw the letter in his hand, and that the man was struck by a train going east. He stated particularly that he saw this man get off the rear end of the street car, on the west side of Thirteenth street, and that he saw him picked up and put into an ambulance. He did not know Moore, but heard some people saying, ‘Mr. Moore got hurt,’ and found out that the man injured was Moore. He was corroborated by his sister, Gertrude, who testified that she remembered the accident, saw them pick up the injured man and put him in an ambulance, and saw her brother, Gust, standing next to the injured man. The evidence further shows that the depot is situated on the east side of Thirteenth street, which runs north and south, and that Twelfth street is west of and parallel with Thirteenth street. The plant is about 14 blocks from the railroad station, and the station may be reached from the plant by walking down the railroad right of way or by walking from the plant 2 blocks south on Second street to Third avenue, at which point a Third avenue car passes about every 15 minutes going east to Thirteenth street which it crosses a block north of the depot. Moore was picked up on the railroad right of way about midway between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets and west of the depot, and the testimony shows that the right of way at this point between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets is used by the public, and particularly by pedestrians, as a place for crossing the tracks, and it had been frequently so used for 5 or 6 years previous to this accident. Moore died of his injuries February 1, 1916, leaving surviving him Madue Moore, his widow, and one daughter, Edith Moore.

Maude Moore, plaintiff in error, filed her petition for compensation, and on September 27, 1917, the arbitrator awarded her the sum of $7.56 per week for a period of 416 weeks under paragraph (a) of section 7 of the Compensation Act (Laws 1913, p. 341), and the sum of $50 for first aid, medical, surgical, and hospital services as provided by paragraph (a) of section 8, and that there was also due $385.56 of said compensation up to the time of the award, and that the remainder thereof should be paid in weekly payments, beginning with January 22, 1917. The arbitrator recited in his award that Olson gave the deceased a dime to be expended for car fare to the depot for the purpose of mailing the letter,...