David Bradley Manufacturing Works v. Industrial Board

119 N.E. 615, 283 Ill. 468
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedApril 17, 1918
DocketNo. 11936
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 119 N.E. 615 (David Bradley Manufacturing Works v. Industrial Board) 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
David Bradley Manufacturing Works v. Industrial Board, 119 N.E. 615, 283 Ill. 468 (Ill. 1918).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Farmer

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff in error, John Garrett, filed a notice of claim with the Industrial Boárd against defendant in error, the David Bradley Manufacturing Works, with a statement the parties had been unable to agree upon compensation claimed for an injury alleged' to have been received by plaintiff in error in the course of and arising out of his employment and requesting that a committee of arbitration be appointed. The injury was alleged to have been sustained May 12, 1915, while “raising a heavy piece of iron or machinery to attach or hoolc it to a carrier, to be then carried to' a tank of paint,” and under the head, “Description of accident and cause of injury,” stated, “Suddenly struck with paralysis, caused from heavy lifting.” This notice and claim were filed with the Industrial Board September 29, 1915. Thereafter each of the parties selected an arbitrator, and the Industrial Board appointed an arbitrator who acted as chairman of the committee of arbitration. A hearing was had before said committee November 11, 1915, and an order was entered finding that plaintiff in error was not entitled to recover compensation for his injury. Within the time required by law plaintiff in error filed a petition with the Industrial Board for a review of the decision of the committee of arbitration. Counsel now representing plaintiff in error did not represent him before the committee of arbitration but were employed to represent him before the Industrial Board on the review. At the hearing before the committee of arbitration it was stipulated by counsel representing both parties that the taking of the testimony by a stenographer, as provided by section 16 of the Workmen’s Compensation act, be waived. Counsel for plaintiff in error prepared and filed with the Industrial Board in apt time what purported to be a statement of the facts appearing at the hearing before the committee of arbitration, which was authenticated by counsel for plaintiff in error and by the chairman of the committee of arbitration but was not authenticated by counsel for defendant in error. Defendant in error entered its special appearance before the Industrial Board for the purpose of challenging the jurisdiction of said board to review the award of the committee of arbitration. The reasons assigned for said motion were that plaintiff in error had not filed either an agreed statement of the facts appearing before the committee of arbitration or a correct stenographic report of the proceedings at the hearing before said committee. In opposition to said motion one of counsel for plaintiff in error testified before said board, in substance, that defendant in error procured to be present at the hearing before the committee of arbitration a circuit court reporter who took the testimony of witnesses at said hearing; that after he was employed in the case witness applied to said court reporter for a transcript of the evidence, but the reporter refused to furnish it unless he would procure the consent of 'counsel for defendant in error; that he endeavored to'secure the consent of defendant in error’s counsel but they refused to give it; that he then prepared, as best he could from interviewing witnesses who were present at the hearing and the attorney who then represented plaintiff in error at that hearing, a statement of facts; that he furnished a copy of said statement to counsel for defendant in error and inquired if he was willing to sign it as an agreed statement of facts, but he refused to do so and said it was not a correct statement of the facts; - that witness asked counsel what corrections he could offer or suggest, and he replied he would not offer any and said he would not sign any statement of facts; that after that refusal the purported statement of facts, authenticated by counsel for plaintiff in error and the chairman of the committee of arbitration, was filed with the Industrial Board. The board denied the motion to dismiss the petition for review but considered the case, heard additional evidence and made an award to plaintiff in error of $6 per week for 416 weeks and thereafter a pension for life of $16.64 Per month. Defendant in error took no part in the proceedings before the Industrial Board after its motion to dismiss was overruled. Defendant in error sued out of the circuit court of Kankakee county a writ of certiorari under the Workmen’s Compensation act to review the decision and award of the Industrial Board. The circuit court quashed and set aside said award and made an order that the case was one proper to be reviewed by this court, and this writ of error was sued out to review the judgment of the circuit court.

In our view of the case, if it be conceded that the Industrial Board properly denied the motion of defendant in error to dismiss the petition for review, still this judgment must be affirmed. There is no evidence preserved in this record, either on the hearing before the committee of arbitration (except said statement of facts) or before the Industrial Board, except the testimony of one of counsel for the plaintiff in error in opposition to the motion before the Industrial Board to dismiss the petition for review. The statement of facts as prepared by counsel for plaintiff in error, heard before the committee of arbitration, is in the record. It appears from said statement of facts that on May 12, 1915, the plaintiff in error “was engaged in lifting disks from the floor and hanging them on a hook higher than his head, taking two disks at a time, weighing about twenty-five pounds. While he was in the act of hanging two of said disks on such hook, said disks being about twenty-five pounds in weight, and while holding such disks over his head, he began to quiver and tremble, and another . workman seeing this took the disks from him and assisted him to a truck, where he sat down.” He was removed at once to the office of defendant in error, and its physician called to examine and treat him. His right side was paralyzed. The physician of defendant in error told plaintiff in error to get another doctor to treat him, and he did so, remaining constantly under the treatment of the physician up to the time of the hearing. He is still paralyzed and permanently disabled. He was receiving $1.80 per day as wages, had been steadily employed up to the time of his disability, and was a strong, healthy man except for an injury he received in 1914 which disabled him for about two months, and also in the same year he had an attack of bronchitis which disabled him about six weeks.

It is stated in plaintiff in error’s brief and not denied, and also in the written decision of the Industrial Board, that he was not able to testify at the hearing before the committee of arbitration. It appears he did testify before the Industrial Board, and that two physicians also testified in his behalf, but none of that testimony is in the record. An examination of the written decision of the Industrial Board discloses that body made its award on the ground that previous to the time plaintiff in error became faint and dizzy while attempting to lift the disks above his head, he had fallen while descending a stairway and struck his head against the frame of a door, which caused him to feel dizzy and tremble; that he had another fall before returning to the work of lifting the disks, and that medical testimony was to ,the effect that the blow on the head caused a hemorrhage, which was undoubtedly the cause of the paralysis.

The decision of the Industrial Board does not purport to set out the testimony heard by it, even in substance, but gives the conclusions of the board drawn from the testimony.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Reid v. Automatic Electric Washer Co.
189 Iowa 964 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1920)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
119 N.E. 615, 283 Ill. 468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/david-bradley-manufacturing-works-v-industrial-board-ill-1918.