Dinwiddie v. Siefkin

20 N.E.2d 130, 299 Ill. App. 316, 1939 Ill. App. LEXIS 733
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJanuary 24, 1939
DocketGen. No. 9,132
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 20 N.E.2d 130 (Dinwiddie v. Siefkin) 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
Dinwiddie v. Siefkin, 20 N.E.2d 130, 299 Ill. App. 316, 1939 Ill. App. LEXIS 733 (Ill. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

Mr. Presiding Justice Riess

delivered the opinion of the court.

A judgment in the sum of $7,900 was entered in the circuit court of Shelby county upon the verdict of a jury in favor of the plaintiff appellee, Frank Dinwiddle, and against defendants appellants, Norman Siefkin and Household Finance Corporation, in a suit to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by the plaintiff, who was struck by defendants’ automobile while engaged with other employees of the State of Illinois in repair work on State Highway Bond Issue Route No. 16, from which judgment defendants have appealed to this court.

The first two counts of plaintiff’s complaint, as amended, charged the defendants with having wantonly and wilfully injured the plaintiff, while the third count charged general negligence. Defendants first filed motions to strike the complaint on the ground that all parties were operating under and bound by the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, which motions were denied, and answers and reply were filed, wherein the issues were joined and a jury trial followed, resulting in a verdict in favor of plaintiff under the third count. Motions for directed verdict were interposed by the defendants at the close of plaintiff’s evidence and of all the evidence and were denied. Motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, for a new trial and in arrest of judgment were also denied, and judgment was entered on the verdict.

It appears from the evidence that plaintiff Frank Dinwiddie and three other workmen were engaged in heating, pouring and sanding tar, in filling and repairing cracks in an 18-foot concrete slab on the above State highway extending east and west between and beyond the cities of Shelbyville and Mattoon, Illinois, at a point about 3% miles east of Shelbyville. The collision and resultant injuries occurred shortly after 2 o’clock in the afternoon of May 6, 1936, at which time a ton and one-half State owned dump truck was being slowly driven and operated westward on the north or right-hand side of the black center line of the highway by one of the workmen, Delmer Riley, at a speed of one to one and one-half miles per hour.

A 2-wheeled tar wagon containing a tar pot partially filled with hot tar, about 3x3%x5 feet in dimensions, with smoke stack from which smoke was issuing at the top thereof, was attached to the rear of the truck by 2 iron arms or braces made of 2%x3 inch channel irons. Attached to the right fender of the tar pot was a steel wire 108 feet long which extended to the rear along the highway where it was attached to and dragged a sled, about 2x2% feet in size and made of 4x4 inch lumber, along the right-hand or northerly edge of the slab, upon which sled an upright sign about 2% feet square faced eastward or to the rear, bearing the words “One Way Traffic,” at the top of which sign was attached a red flag extending horizontally from the south side of the sign pointing toward the center of the pavement. A similar red flag was also attached to the rear of the truck.

The truck had slowly traveled and worked westward on the north side of the pavement about 2% miles, while the three workmen on foot were engaged in the cleaning, tarring and sanding operations. The plaintiff was sweeping out the cracks that required tarring with a broom at a point about 30 feet east or back of the tar pot and about 20 feet behind him Oscar Tull was pouring hot tar out of a bucket into the cracks. Approximately 30 feet to his rear, another employee, Early, was engaged in sprinkling sand from a bucket upon the freshly poured tar. Back of Early about 20 feet, the sled, sign and flag were being slowly drawn by the attached wire along the north edge of the pavement. Riley, the truck driver, sat in the truck with one foot on the running board and was watching the work and traffic both from the front and rear of the repair equipment when the accident occurred.

A Chevrolet sedan driven by George Davis at about 45 miles per hour, came from the east, approached the highway crew from the rear, and as it drew near, slowed down to about 20 miles per hour, and in passing, pulled to the left or south side of the slab and had come up almost even with the truck and tar pot at the time.

Defendant appellant, Norman Siefldn, 24 years of age, was also driving westward in a new Plymouth coupe, in the course of Ms employment as investigator for defendant, Household Finance Corporation, en route from Flora to Pana, Illinois, on business for his employer.

He was traveling at a speed of 65 to 75 miles per hour, according to witnesses Delmer Riley and Mrs. Carrie Helton, and by his own statement about 50 miles per hour. He came up directly behind Davis in the westbound lane with the intention of passing around Davis. At this moment Davis, according to Siefkin, turned over into the left-hand or eastbound traffic lane to pass the men, and Siefldn, for the first time, saw the warmng sign, the Mghway crew and the truck. He immediately applied his four-wheel brakes and locked the wheels and sMdded on in the right-hand lane, knocking the sand bucket out of Early’s hands, striking Tull and Dinwiddie and crashed into the rear end of the tar pot, bent the iron supports and his car partially turned, struck the fender of the Davis car and stopped at an angle on the slab. The hitch irons of the tar pot and truck were broken and the truck knocked forward approximately 10 feet. The sand bucket was thrown down the road alongside the truck, Tull was knocked about 60 feet and died immediately, and plaintiff Dinwiddie was knocked about 30 feet over on to the right-hand dirt shoulder near the rear end of the truck. The tire skid marks upon the pavement extended back from the truck 125 feet to about 15 or 16 feet back of the warmng sled.

Dinwiddie was taken by ambulance to a hospital at Shelbyville, where' he was treated for his injuries, which, according to plaintiff and his physicians, consisted of a lacerated cut on his left forehead, dislocated right shoulder and collar bone injuries, a puncture wound above his left hip, bruises and shock; that X-ray pictures were taken which disclosed a dislocation of his right shoulder, the muscles and ligaments torn loose so that the scapula had dropped down and the clavicle raised up one and one half to two inches out of normal position; that the chronium process holding the shoulder in place was injured, and a condition shown which indicated rib and back injuries. Plaintiff remained in the hospital at Shelbyville for 18 days. He was subsequently sent to a Chicago hospital where a repair operation was performed on the shoulder by removing fascia from his leg and opening up and sewing the clavicle and scapula together. He was in the Chicago hospital for 4 weeks, and his body, shoulder and arm were in a cast for 11 weeks.

The plaintiff and a treating physician testified that this and other injuries resulted in permanent disability in use of the right arm and shoulder.

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Bluebook (online)
20 N.E.2d 130, 299 Ill. App. 316, 1939 Ill. App. LEXIS 733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dinwiddie-v-siefkin-illappct-1939.