Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co. v. Industrial Commission

123 N.E. 278, 288 Ill. 126
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedApril 15, 1919
DocketNo. 12511
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 123 N.E. 278 (Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co. v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co. v. Industrial Commission, 123 N.E. 278, 288 Ill. 126 (Ill. 1919).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Farmer

delivered the opinion of the court:

Alexander Kraujalis was employed by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company in its yards at Blue Island as a locomotive boiler-washer. While engaged in work he was shot and killed in the round-house of the railroad company by another employee of the company who was known as a machinist’s helper and was employed by the same company. The killing occurred Monday night, November 19, 1917. Kraujalis left surviving him a wife and two children, and application was made for compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation act, it being claimed that the death occurred in the course of and arose out of the employment of deceased.

Kraujalis was, as we have said, a locomotive boiler-washer, and for some months his assistant or helper in that work was his brother-in-law, Kaupus. Saturday night, November 17, Kaupus was not on duty, and Hunt, a machinist helper, was assigned to the duty of assisting deceased in the work. Through the week machinist helpers were let off at 11:3o P. M. and on Saturday night at 10:3o P. M. Saturday night, November 17, Hunt quit and left his work about 10 o’clock P. M., and deceased was left without any helper. Kraujalis reported that fact to the foreman, Dan Dougherty, and the foreman directed him to get a Mexican to help him the rest of the night. Monday night, November 19, Kaupus was assisting Kraujalis as his helper and Hunt was at work as a helper to a machinist named Deady. About 7 o’clock P. M. the deceased went to the store-house for some oil, and about, the same time Hunt was sent by Deady to the same store-house for some cotter-keys. The two men met in the store-house and a quarrel ensued. Hunt called deceased a vile name and they engaged in a fight. Kraujalis threw Hunt down and held him for some minutes. Hunt pleaded with him to be allowed to get up, which Kraujalis permitted him to do, and when he arose he struck Kraujalis ón the jaw and “put him out.” Kraujalis called for his brother-in-law, Kaupus, who came to the store-house and threw Hunt out. He testified Hunt said Kraujalis had reported him to.the boss and that if he was fired he would kill Kraujalis. Immediately after-wards Kraujalis and Kaupus went to the office of Dougherty, the foreman, .and reported that Hunt was fighting them. Hunt had returned to his place of work and Dougherty and the two men went to where Hunt was engaged and Dougherty called for Hunt. He came to where the men were and there struck or tried to strike Kaupus with a sledge hammer. In some manner the sledge hammer got out of Hunt’s hands and Kaupus testified he then tried to grab him in the breast. About that time another employee came by with a hose on his shoulder, and Kaupus took the hose and struck Hunt with the end of it, on which was a metal tip. The blow staggered Hunt, and when he recovered he ran or went away. Kraujalis and Kaupus went back to the engine they were washing out. Kaupus turned the water on and Kraujalis was handling and directing the hose. While they were thus engaged Hunt came with a revolver and began shooting at Kaupus. One bullet passed through Kaupus’s shirt and he ran away. Hunt then shot Kraujalis, wounding him so severely that he died.

The above is the substance of the material testimony as to how the death occurred. The arbitrator before whom the application for compensation was heard denied compensation. A petition for a review was filed before the Industrial Commission, and upon the hearing the commission awarded compensation to the applicant. The award was confirmed by the circuit court of Cook county, and that court certified the cause was a proper one to be reviewed by the Supreme Court. Accordingly the case "is before us by writ of error.

A reversal is asked by the plaintiff in error upon two grounds: (x) The injury to deceased which caused his death did not arise out of his employment; (2) both deceased and Hunt were engaged in inter-State commerce at the time of the shooting and no award can therefore be made under the State Compensation act.

The determination of the question whether an injury arose out of the employment in some cases presents one of the most difficult problems in connection with the act. (Glass on Workmen’s Compensation, 40.) This court has in several cases adopted the definition of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in the McNicol case, 215 Mass. 497, viz.: “It [the injury] arises out of the employment when there is apparent to the rational mind, upon consideration of all the circumstances, a causal connection between the condition under which the work is required to be performed and the resulting injury. Under this test, if the injury can be seen to have followed as a natural incident of . the work and to have been contemplated by a reasonable person familiar with the whole situation, as a result of the exposure occasioned by the nature of the employment, then it arises out of the employment.” (See Ohio Building Vault Co. v. Industrial Board, 277 Ill. 96; Mueller Construction Co. v. Industrial Board, 283 id. 148.) Kraujalis was not the superior of Hunt in the sense that he had authority to discharge him, but his (Kraujalis’) work was such that he could not perform it without the assistance of' a helper. When the helper quit before the work was completed it was his duty to ask the foreman for help, which made it necessary for him to inform the foreman his helper had quit work. It was the performance of this duty that aroused the anger of Hunt and caused him to quarrel and fight with Kraujalis. It does not appear that Kraujalis at any time was the aggressor or sought an altercation with Hunt. The meeting of the two men at the store-house the night of the shooting was accidental. Hunt had learned Kraujalis had reported to the foreman that Hunt had quit work Saturday night before quitting time-and began abusing Kraujalis and called him an offensively vile name. They engaged in a fight, but Kraujalis, who was the larger man, does not appear to have done anything more than throw Hunt down and hold him until he pleaded to be allowed to get up. This Kraujalis permitted him to do, and he then struck Kraujalis on the jaw,—a blow which a witness said “put him out.” It was also testified Hunt there said Kraujalis had reported him and if he was discharged he would kill him. When Kraujalis and his helper, Kaupus, went with the foreman to the place where Hunt was at work, Hunt was the aggressor according to the testimony and sought to strike Kaupus with a sledge hammer. It is not shown by the testimony that Kraujalis there said or did anything. After Kraujalis and Kaupus had returned to and were engaged in the duties of their employment Hunt came to them with a revolver and began shooting at Kaupus. When he ran away he then turned on and shot Kraujalis, who was holding and directing the hose in washing out the boiler. The shooting was incidental to and arose out of the employment. It cannot be said, as a matter of law, that the injury was such a one as might happen to anyone and did not arise out of the employment. “It [the risk of injury] may be incidental to the employment when it is either an ordinary risk directly connected with the employment or an extraordinary risk which is only indirectly connected therewith.” (Bryant v. Fissel, 84 N. J. L. 72.) There- was a causal connection between the conditions under which Kraujalis was required to perform his work and the injury. It cannot be said that the proof does not tend to show that the shooting of Kraujalis was caused by his report to the foreman that Hunt had quit work.

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Bluebook (online)
123 N.E. 278, 288 Ill. 126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-rock-island-pacific-railway-co-v-industrial-commission-ill-1919.