Rhodes v. Industrial Com'n, 55263

• Decision Date: 22 October 1982
• Docket Number: No. 55263,55263
• Parties: , 66 Ill.Dec. 83 Laki RHODES, Appellant, v. The INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al. (Arlington Park Towers Hotel, Appellee).
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 509

442 N.E.2d 509

92 Ill.2d 467, 66 Ill.Dec. 83

Laki RHODES, Appellant, v. The INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al. (Arlington Park Towers Hotel, Appellee).

No. 55263.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 22, 1982.

Robert W. Cushing, Chicago (Ambrose & Cushing, P.C., Chicago, of counsel), for appellant.

Discipio, Martay & Caruso, Chicago (Anthony J. Caruso, Jr., Chicago, of counsel), for appellees.

WARD, Justice:

On September 23, 1974, Laki Rhodes filed a claim against the Arlington Park Towers Hotel under the Workmen's Compensation Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1973, ch. 48, par. 138.1 et seq.) for injuries he claimed he received when he fell down a stairwell while employed at the hotel. On April 14, 1975, an Industrial Commission arbitrator found that the respondent was operating subject to the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act, that the relationship of employee and employer existed between the claimant and the respondent, and that the claimant failed to prove that he sustained accidental injuries arising out of and in the course of employment. On January 24, 1978, the Industrial Commission affirmed the arbitrator's denial of an award. On December 21, 1978, the circuit court of Cook County set aside the Commission's finding and remanded the cause to the Industrial Commission for a hearing de novo. On November 14, 1980, the Industrial Commission found that an employer-employee relationship did not exist between the claimant and the respondent and that the claimant failed to prove that he sustained accidental injuries arising out of and in the course of his employment. The circuit court of Cook County then confirmed the Industrial Commission's finding. The claimant appealed directly to this court pursuant to Rule 302(a)(2). 73 Ill.2d R. 302(a)(2).

Rhodes, maintaining that he was an employee of the respondent at the time of the accident and that the accident arose out of and in the course of his employment, urges us to reverse the circuit court. We consider that any recovery under the Workmen's Compensation Act was barred under the circumstances by his acceptance of payments made in settlement of a negligence action he filed.

On October 22, 1975, Rhodes filed a common law negligence action against Madison Square Garden Hotels, Inc., and the respondent, Arlington Park Towers Hotel Corporation, seeking damages for injuries in the accident described here. The Arlington Park Towers Hotel was owned, operated, and maintained by the Arlington Park Towers Hotel Corporation, a subsidiary of Madison Square Gardens Hotels, Inc., on the date of the accident. (The parties agree that the Arlington Park Towers Hotel and the Arlington Park Towers Hotel Corporation are the same legal entity for purposes of this suit.) The complaint stated that the plaintiff, Rhodes, was a business invitee of the defendants. Service was had upon the defendants' agent, CT Corporation Systems, but the defendants apparently were not notified of the suit and no appearance was filed. On March 29, 1976, a default judgment was entered in favor of the plaintiff for $75,000. A citation to discover assets was served upon CT Corporation Systems on July 5, 1979, and the defendants filed a motion to vacate the default judgment. Before the motion was acted upon, the parties entered into a settlement whereby Rhodes accepted $50,000, but the release he gave was not to affect his pending workmen's compensation claim. The release purported to discharge the defendants "from any and all actions, causes of action, suits, damages, claims, and demands whatsoever, whether known or unknown, excepting only that claim set forth and described fully below in paragraph '(C)' of this general release." Paragraph (C) states that the release "shall not act as a release or waiver of my claim under the Illinois Workmen's Compensation Act." Rhodes' attempt to preserve a workmen's compensation claim was ineffectual.

Section 5 of the Workmen's Compensation Act (Ill.Rev.Stat.1973, ch. 48, par. 138.5) provides that "[n]o common law or statutory right to recover damages from the employer * * * for injury or death sustained by any employee while engaged in the line of his duty as such employee, other than the compensation herein provided, is available to any employee who is covered by the provisions of this Act * * *." The Workmen's Compensation Act replaced all previously existing common law rights and liabilities between employees and employers subject to the Act with a new system of...