Andres v. State

8 Ill. Ct. Cl. 269, 1934 Ill. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 120
CourtCourt of Claims of Illinois
DecidedDecember 11, 1934
DocketNos. 1883-1884—Consolidated
StatusPublished

This text of 8 Ill. Ct. Cl. 269 (Andres v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Claims of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andres v. State, 8 Ill. Ct. Cl. 269, 1934 Ill. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 120 (Ill. Super. Ct. 1934).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Linscott

delivered the opinion of the court:

On motion of the plaintiff, the above entitled cases have been consolidated, as the alleged injury and resulting damages arose out of the same facts.

The declaration in each ease is a complaint against the State of Illinois, in a plea of trespass on the case, and alleges that William E. Andres and Alma Andres were on or "about the 1st day of March, 1931, employed as attendants in the Illinois State Hospital at Elgin, and while so engaged in the course of their duties, were fed with food furnished and prepared by the said State of Illinois, through its officers, agents and employees, and while so engaged in the course of their duties as such attendants, it became and was the duty of the said State of Illinois to furnish them with pure and wholesome food, properly prepared; yet the defendant, the State, not regarding its said duty to use due care in that behalf, did furnish the said William E. Andres and Alma Andres, while so engaged in the course of their duties, tainted and unwholesome food and which was not properly prepared, that is to say, to-wit, meat that was tainted and infected, and not properly cooked and prepared, and as' a result thereof the said Alma Andres became ill and sick and infected with disease, to-wit: Trichinosis, and as a result thereof she became sick, lame and disordered, and so remained until the 4th day of June, 1930 when she died as a result of the disease so incurred as aforesaid. The declaration then alleges her next of kin and claims damages in the sum of $10,000.00. In this declaration there is a second count, but there is no substantial difference in the averment so far as liability is concerned, from the first count, except that William E. Andres did not die. The averments in the case of William E. Andres vs. The State of Illinois, are substantially the same.

The Attorney Greneral has made a motion to dismiss this case on the grounds that it does not state a cause of action.

The State, at Elgin, Illinois, maintains a charitable institution known as the Illinois Northern Hospital for the Insane, and the State may under the law, receive any grant, gift, donation, devise or bequest of real or personal property for the use of any charitable institution. This institution is also maintained by appropriation by the legislature, though a charge is made for the care of its inmates.

In the case of Parks vs. Northwestern University, 218 Ill. 381, the declaration alleges that the University undertook, for hire, to teach Parks the science of dentistry, dental surgery, etc., and charged that he received injuries resulting in the loss of an eye through the negligence of one of the professors employed by the University while Parks was in his charge as a student in a class-room or laboratory of the University. A demurrer was sustained to the declaration by the Superior Court of Cook County and the cause dismissed. The ground of the demurrer was that the University is a charitable institution, organized for the purpose of disseminating education and professional learning, and that the doctrine that the employee shall be liable to respond for the negligent act of the employer has no application to it. Without an extended discussion of this case, the Supreme Court held that in the Statute of charitable uses, (43 Eliz. chap. 4,) which is a part of the common law of this State, 6 ‘ schools of learning, free schools,” etc., are mentioned as charitable objects, and the fact that the appellee requires its students to pay tuition does not change its character as a charitable institution, and held that a charitable institution was exempt from liability, or damages resulting from the negligent acts of its servants.

To the same effect is the case of Hogan vs. Chicago Lying-In Hospital, 335 Ill. 42 where it was held that a purely charitable corporation is not liable for the torts or negligence of its employees, servants or agents in the performance of their duties in carrying on the work of the corporation.

Counsel for plaintiff state that they are fully aware that the State is not subject to a suit except by its own consent as provided by law, and that it has also been held by this court that the conduct of a hospital is not an extra hazardous enterprise. He further states that he is aware that as a general rule of law the doctrine of respondeat superior does not apply to the State, and states that he relies upon the Court of Claims Act as to the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims, which provides that the Court of Claims has jurisdiction :

“To hear and determine all claims and demands, legal and equitable, liquidated and unliquidated, ex contractu and ex delicto, which the State as a sovereign commonwealth should, in equity and good conscience discharge and pay.”

Counsel also states that the foregoing is in addition to its powers to hear cases arising under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

The declaration attempts to state a cause of action at common law in a plea of trespass on the case, and does not purport to state any facts which would bring these cases under the Compensation Act. These declarations allege that the parties, while engaged in the course of their duties were fed impure and poisonous food, furnished and prepared by the State of Illinois, through its officers and agents. While the declaration alleges that they were engaged as attendants, it does not set forth of what their work consisted.

Under Section 3 of the Compensation Act, the provisions thereof apply automatically and without election to the State, and others engaged in any department of the enterprises or businesses mentioned therein, and there are ten different businesses and enterprises mentioned, but neither of these include an attendant at a State Hospital. While this would not be necessary, it would be necessary to aver facts which would show what the duties of the attendants were at the time of the injury to the end that this court may determine if such attendants do come under the provisions of Section 3 of the Compensation Act.

Section 6 of the Court of Claims Act, provides that the court shall have power:

“To hear and determine the liability of the State for accidental injuries or death suffered in the course of employment by any employee of the State, such determination to be made in accordance with the rules prescribed in the Act commonly called the ‘Workmen’s Compensation Act,’ the Industrial Commission being hereby relieved of any duty relative thereto.”

While it is true that Section 4 of the Compensation Act defines the term “employer” as used in that Act to include the State and every person, firm, public or private corporation, including hospitals, the service or duties of the employee must be one of those that come within the enterprises or businesses enumerated in Section 3 of the Act.

The specific charge in each of these cases is that the respective parties, while engaged in the course of their duties, were fed with food furnished and prepared by the State, by its employees, which was poisonous. We take it from the averments in the declaration, although no specific charge is made, that a part of the compensation that these parties were to receive, were their meals. It would be absurd and ludicrous to hold thát these plaintiffs were engaged by the State to eat meals.

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Related

Hogan v. Chicago Lying-In Hospital & Dispensary
166 N.E. 461 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1929)
Vincennes Bridge Co. v. Industrial Commission
184 N.E. 603 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1933)
McNicol's Case
215 Mass. 497 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1913)
Parks v. Northwestern University
75 N.E. 991 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1905)
Eugene Dietzen Co. v. Industrial Board
116 N.E. 684 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1917)
Mueller Construction Co. v. Industrial Board
283 Ill. 148 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1918)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
8 Ill. Ct. Cl. 269, 1934 Ill. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andres-v-state-ilclaimsct-1934.