Wasson Coal Co. v. Indus. Comm'n

• Decision Date: 14 April 1924
• Docket Number: No. 15777.,15777.
• Citation: 312 Ill. 241,143 N.E. 584
• Parties: WASSON COAL CO. v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

312 Ill. 241

143 N.E. 584

WASSON COAL CO.

v.INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al.

No. 15777.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April 14, 1924.

Error to Circuit Court, Saline County; A. E. Somers, Judge.

Proceedings under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Lucy Clayton for the death of Virgil Clayton, her son, claimant, opposed by the Wasson Coal Company, employer. An order of the Industrial Commission awarding compensation as a partial dependent was affirmed by the circuit court, and the employer brings error.

Reversed.

Moloney & Postelnek, of Chicago, and Miley & Combe, of Harrisburg (Peter Postelnek, of Chicago, of counsel), for plaintiff in error.

James B. Lewis, of Harrisburg, for defendant in error.

CARTWRIGHT, J.

On January 17, 1922, Virgil Clayton, while employed in the coal mine of plaintiff in error, the Wasson Coal Company, at Harrisburg, sustained an accidental injury which arose out of and in the course of his employment, and which resulted in his death the same day. His mother, Lucy Clayton, applied to the Industrial Commission for compensation, alleging that she was totally dependent upon the earnings of the deceased at the time of the injury. An arbitrator, after hearing the evidence, made an award of $1,650-the minimum compensation for partial dependency. On review the Industrial Commission affirmed the award, and the record was filed in the circuit court of Saline county as a return to a writ of certiorari. The circuit court affirmed the decision of the Industrial Commission, and a writ of error to the circuit court was awarded for a review of the record.

Lucy Clayton, the mother of Virgil Clayton, lived at Providence, Ky., and was the only witness. Until about a year before the death of Virgil he lived with his father, mother, and family at Providence. His father had been a farmer, and was a coal miner, and Virgil worked as a miner for the Hunter Coal Company. Whenever Virgil drew his pay he contributed money for the support of the family and himself, including his own board, and the amount so contributed was probably about $30 a month. He left home a year before his death and came to Harrisburg, where he worked as a miner for the Wasson Coal Company until the accident which caused his death. After he came to this state, he never sent any money to his father or mother, but gave his father some money on two occasions when he went home, and the amount was not shown. The witness thought he gave his to his father some time in July, 1921, when he was home. His father died on November 13, 1921, three months before the death of Virgil, and after the death of the father the family consisted of the mother; an unmarried son, Ernest, 25 years old, who was a coal miner, a son Thomas, who was 18 years old, and drove an ice wagon at $15 a week; a son George, 16 years old, who worked in the mines after his father's death, putting his earnigs in toward the support of the family; a son Edward, 14 years old; and a daughter, Robbie, 11 years old-the last two contributing...