Anderson v. Meyer

87 N.E.2d 787, 338 Ill. App. 414, 1949 Ill. App. LEXIS 338
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 10, 1949
DocketGen. No. 10,284
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 87 N.E.2d 787 (Anderson v. Meyer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. Meyer, 87 N.E.2d 787, 338 Ill. App. 414, 1949 Ill. App. LEXIS 338 (Ill. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

Mr. Presiding Justice Wolfe

delivered the opinion of the court.

This suit was brought in the circuit court of Henry-county by the administratrix of the estate of Arlie Julius Olson, deceased, against Wesley Meyer and Carl Ropp to recover damages under the Injuries Act for negligently causing the death of the plaintiff’s intestate. The decedent was fatally injured on April 10, 1945, as a result of a collision between a truck he was driving and a truck being operated by Wesley Meyer on State Highway No. 82 about four miles north of the City of Geneseo.

At the time of the accident the plaintiff’s intestate was an employee of Rollin Nelson driving a truck belonging to Mm. Wesley Meyer was an employee of Carl Bopp as a truck driver and operating a truck belonging to Bopp.

The complaint is based on the alleged improper operation of the truck which was under the control of Meyer. Count one of the complaint charges general negligence of the defendant, Meyer. Count two charges Meyer with wilful and wanton conduct. Count three charges the defendant, Bopp, with general negligence in the operation of his truck by his servant and agent, Wesley Meyer. The fourth count charges Bopp with wilful and wanton conduct through his servant and agent, Wesley.Meyer, in the operation of Bopp’s truck. There are no facts stated in the complaint from which it appears that the parties and Bollin Nelson were bound by the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, either prima facie or otherwise.

The defendants made a motion to strike the complaint because it does not state a cause of action. This point is not argued in this court. (Vide, Mueller v. Elm Park Hotel Co., 391 Ill. 391, 397.)

The motion to strike being overruled, the defendants filed an answer denying the charges of the complaint. There was a trial before a jury. At the close of the plaintiff’s evidence the defendant, Meyer, filed a motion for a directed verdict on the first count and a like motion on the second count. Similar motions were made by the defendant, Bopp, on his behalf. Bulings on, .the motions were reserved by the trial judge until the close of all the evidence. At the close of all the evidence, motions as before made for a directed verdict were presented to the court and overruled.

The defendant then made a motion, “to dismiss the case for the following reason. That the record now shows that the remedy of the next of kin, if any, is under the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act of the State of Illinois and not under ‘ An Act Bequiring Compensation for causing Death by Wrongful Act, Neglect or Default’ approved February 12th, 1853, as amended.”

After argument by counsel the foregoing motion was overruled by the court. The defendants based this motion on certain provisions of sec. 29 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act [Ill. Rev. Stat. 1947, ch. 48, par. 166; Jones Ill. Stats. Ann. 143.44] which will be hereinafter stated. It is evident that arguments in the trial court, under the motion and testimony of Meyer at the trial, tending to prove that Meyer had departed from his employment prior to the accident, lead the plaintiff to make the motions hereafter mentioned in favor of Ropp, the employer of Meyer. .

There was a verdict for $6,000 against the defendants, Meyer and Ropp. Thereafter the plaintiff made two motions filed on the same day. The first motion ask for judgment in favor of Ropp notwithstanding the verdict, on the ground that there was no evidence that Meyer was acting as the agent of, or in the course of his employment for Ropp at the time of the accident. The other motion was for a new trial against Ropp on the ground that the verdict is contrary to the weight of the evidence in that there was not sufficient evidence that Meyer was the agent of Ropp, or engaged in the course of his employment for Ropp at the time of the accident. The motions were taken under advisement o by the trial judge.

Judgment was entered against the defendant, Wesley Meyer, in the amount of $6,000 and costs of suit. Subsequently, the trial judge, being of the opinion that the motion for a judgment in favor of Ropp notwithstanding the verdict and the motion for a new trial, as to Ropp being in the alternative, allowed the motion made by the plaintiff in favor of Ropp for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict and rendered judgment in favor of Ropp. The defendant, Meyer, has appealed from the judgment against him.

It is first contended by the defendant that the trial court erred in not dismissing the case at the close of all the evidence as the remedy of the plaintiff, if any, for compensation against his employer, was under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. In support of his contention the defendant cites a part of sec. 29 of the Act as follows: — ‘‘Where an injury or death for which compensation is payable by the employer under this act, was not proximately caused by the negligence of the employer or his employees, and was caused under circumstances creating a legal liability for damages in some other person other than the employer to pay damages, such other person having also elected to be bound by this act, or being bound thereby under Section 3 of this act, then the right of the employee or personal representative to recover against such other person shall be transferred to his employer and such employer may bring legal proceedings against such other person to recover damages sustained, in an amount not exceeding the aggregate amount of compensation payable under this act, by reason of the injury or death of such employee.”

Construing sec. 29 of the Act the Supreme Court in the case of O’Brien v. Chicago City Ry. Co., 305 Ill. 244, has held, “that the common law right of action of any employee against any other person than his employer for negligently injuring him in the course of his employment where such other person is bound by the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act is abolished.”

The defendant bases his foregoing contention on the ground that the evidence in the case shows that Rollin Nelson, the employer of plaintiff’s intestate, also plaintiff’s intestate, and Carl Ropp, the employer of Meyer, and the defendant, Meyer, were all bound by the Workmen’s Compensation Act; that any legal liability of Meyer for damages to the plaintiff’s intestate resulting from any negligence of Meyer was transferred to the employer of the plaintiff’s intestate.

It appears from the evidence that the two employers, Nelson and Eopp, were each engaged in the business of “carriage by land” under paragraph 3 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act [Ill. Rev. Stat. 1947, ch. 48, par. 139, subpar. 3; Jones Ill. Stats. Ann. 143.18, subpar. 3], and it is conceded by the plaintiff that the said employers and their employees were automatically bound by the provisions and terms of the Act. The employment of Meyer as a truck driver engaged in the extra-hazardous employment of carriage by land created a risk under his employment which imposed on him a greater danger than upon other persons using the public highways. (Mueller Const. Co. v. Industrial Board, 283 Ill. 148.)

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87 N.E.2d 787, 338 Ill. App. 414, 1949 Ill. App. LEXIS 338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-meyer-illappct-1949.