Springfield Dist. Coal Mining Co. v. Indus. Comm'n

• Decision Date: 09 December 1921
• Docket Number: No. 13997.,13997.
• Citation: Springfield Dist. Coal Mining Co. v. Indus. Comm'n , 300 Ill. 28, 132 N.E. 752 (Ill. 1921)
• Parties: SPRINGFIELD DIST. COAL MINING CO. v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

300 Ill. 28

132 N.E. 752

SPRINGFIELD DIST. COAL MINING CO.

v.INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al.

No. 13997.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 22, 1921.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 9, 1921.

Error to Circuit Court, Sangamon County; E. S. Smith, Judge.

Proceedings under the Workmen's Compensation Act (Hurds Rev. St. 1919, c. 48 §§ 126-152i) by A. R. Mercer for compensation for injuries, opposed by the Springfield District Coal Mining Company, employer. Award by arbitrator for employee confirmed by the Industrial Commission and by the circuit court, and the employer brings error.

Reversed and remanded, with directions.

T. W. Quinlan, of Springfield, for plaintiff in error.

W. J. MacDonald, of Chicago, for defendant in error.

CARTWRIGHT, J.

A. R. Mercer, the defendant in error, was employed in the mine of plaintiff in error, the Springfield District Coal Mining Company, and on December 31, 1918, was getting out an empty coal car when the mule started up, catching him between that car and another one, in the region of his left lower ribs. He made application for compensation, alleging that the accident caused an injury which had resulted in total and permanent disability. At the time of the hearing before the arbitrator he was totally and permanently incapacitated for work from heart disease, which was conceded, and the only question in dispute was whether the injury was the proximate cause, in whole or in part, of his disability. The arbitrator decided that the accident was the cause of the total and permanent disability and awarded the applicant $12 per week for a period of 291 weeks, $8 for one week, and $23.50 per month during the remainder of the life of the applicant as a pension. On a review of the decision of the arbitrator by the Industrial Commission additional evidence was heard and the award was confirmed. On a writ of certiorari from the circuit court of Sangamon county the award was again confirmed, and this court granted a writ of error for a review of the judgment of the circuit court.

The applicant was 50 years old and before the accident, had worked on a farm and for four or five months prior to the accident had worked in this coal mine. He had always been able to do such work, and testified that he never had any kind of heart trouble or internal trouble before his injury; that at the time of the accident he did not think he was hurt and went back to his work, but could not get his breath and was sent home in a buggy; that a doctor bandaged him, and he had been under the care of that doctor and another since his injury; that his heart ached, his head felt like it was going to burst, and his heart felt filled up and heavy. The doctor who treated applicant at the time of the injury and bandgaged him and also treated him at different times up to the hearing testified that he was suffering from myocarditis, an organic disease of the heart caused by infection and consisting of degeneration of the heart muscles; that the disease is never the result of an outside injury or force applied to the body; that he had examined the applicant thoroughly since the injury, and he was in a bad condition, weak and emaciated, but there were no results remaining from the injury which could possibly cause myocarditis; and that he had a temporary disability only from the injury. The other doctor who had treated the...