Elaborated Ready Roofing Co. v. Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad

222 Ill. App. 181, 1921 Ill. App. LEXIS 114
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 5, 1921
DocketGen. No. 25,703
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 222 Ill. App. 181 (Elaborated Ready Roofing Co. v. Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad) 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
Elaborated Ready Roofing Co. v. Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad, 222 Ill. App. 181, 1921 Ill. App. LEXIS 114 (Ill. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Thomson

delivered the opinion of the court.

On March 3, 1917, one Maria Kora, as administratrix of the estate of Stefan Kora, deceased, commenced a suit against the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad Company. The declaration, which she filed later,' alleged that on May 3, 1916, the defendant owned, operated and controlled a certain superstructure and girders, extending over and across West 71st street in the City of Chicago; that this superstructure was placed at a distance above the roadway which was unsafe and dangerous and that its maintenance thus was negligent; that by reason thereof the superstructure was a nuisance; that plaintiff’s intestate was riding along West 71st street upon a certain wagon and was exercising ordinary care for his own safety, and that, as a proximate result of the premises, he collided with the said superstructure and was killed. She made the usual allegations as to the next of kin who had survived her intestate and as to her appointment as administratrix of his estate. She concluded her declaration with the usual allegation as to damages in the sum of $10,000.

This declaration, on its face, set up a good right of action in the plaintiff under the Injuries Act with respect to the alleged common-law liability on the part of the defendant, by reason of the facts set forth.

To this declaration, the defendant filed a plea of the general issue and a special plea and later an amended special plea, the latter setting forth that, at the time of the injury complained of, the deceased was an employee of the Elaborated Ready Roofing Company (appellant) as a roofer’s helper, whose duties were to assist in the laying and repairing of roofs on buildings ; that at the time of receiving said injuries, he was engaged in the line of his duties and was riding on a wagon belonging to his employer en route from a roofing job he had just completed, to another roofing job; that both deceased and his employer, were, at the time, subject to the Workmen’s Compensation Act, the business of the said employer being of an extrahazardous nature, as defined in section 3 of said Act (Cahill’s Ill. St. ch. 48, ¶ 202); that the defendant, Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad Company, was also at the time of said accident subject to the Workmen’s Compensation Act; that the plaintiff had received from the employer of the deceased, for and on account of the death of the plaintiff’s intestate, such sum as she was entitled to receive under said Workmen’s Compensation Act; that under and by virtue of said act, the plaintiff was precluded from maintaining her action against the defendant. On its face, this plea set up a complete defense to the right of action claimed by the plaintiff in her declaration.

A demurrer filed to this plea by the plaintiff was overruled and she then filed her replication to the plea, setting forth that the superstructure with which the deceased came in contact was used by the defendant in interstate commerce; that as to this instrumentality which caused the death of plaintiff’s intestate, the said defendant was not subject to the Workmen’s Compensation Act, but was solely and exclusively subject to the Federal Employer’s Liability Act governing interstate commerce. A general demurrer filed to this replication by the defendant was sustained.

Thereafter, on April 19, 1919, the appellant, Elaborated Beady Booting Company, was, by leave of court, and over the objections of both the original plaintiff, Maria Kora, as administratrix, and the defendant railroad company, substituted as plaintiff and later filed an amended declaration to which a demurrer, filed by the defendant, was sustained. The appellant then filed a second amended declaration, which alleged that on May 3, 1916, Stefan Kora was in its employ; that on said date he received certain injuries, which were not proximately caused by the negligence of appellant or its employees but which were received in the course of his employment; that the defendant was bound by the Workmen’s Compensation Act; that both the appellant and Kora were bound by the said act; that Maria Kora had been duly appointed administratrix of the estate of Stefan Kora and that she had. made a claim against appellant as the employer of the intestate and that said appellant became indebted to her in the sum of $3,500, by virtue of the Workmen's Compensation Act, as compensation for the death of the said Stefan Kora and that said sum had not been entirely paid; that on the said May 3, 1916, the defendant owned a certain superstructure extending over and across West 71st street in the City of Chicago; that said superstructure was used in both intrastate and interstate commerce; that said superstructure was at a negligent, unsafe and dangerous distance above the roadway; that, by reason thereof, the superstructure was a nuisance; that deceased was working as a roofer’s helper for said appellant, was riding on one of its wagons and was proceeding, in the course of appellant’s business, from one roofing job to another, along West 71st street and was exercising ordinary care for his own safety; that as a direct result of the premises, he came in contact with said superstructure and was killed; that, by reason of appellant’s payment and its liability to pay compensation in accordance with the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, the defendant had, in accordance with the provisions of said act, become liable to pay appellant the said compensation.

After the defendant had filed general and special demurrers to this second amended declaration, the court permitted the appellant to malee certain amendments to it on its face and allowed the demurrers to stand to the second amended declaration as thus amended and the demurrers were then overruled and the defendant then filed a plea of the general issue and a special plea of the statute of limitations. To this special plea, the appellant demurred and the demurrer was overruled. The appellant elected to stand by its demurrer and the cause was then dismissed at appellant’s costs.

From the order overruling its demurrer and dismissing its suit, the appellant has perfected' this appeal.

It was urged hy the defendant in the trial court and is contended by it here that the second amended declaration, as amended, to which the plea was filed, set up a new cause of action and one which was wholly different from that set up in the original declaration filed by Maria Kora.

The original declaration set up a cause of action based on the alleged common-law liability of the defendant and a right of action surviving in the plaintiff as administratrix of the estate of the deceased, necessarily based on our statute known as the Injuries Act (Cahill’s Ill. St. ch. 70, ¶¶ 1-2). The second amended declaration, as amended, set up a cause of action limited to the statutory liability of the defendant as fixed by the Workmen’s Compensation Act and a right of action in the substituted plaintiff (appellant) necessarily based also on the Workmen’s Compensation Act. It is true that the acts of the defendant complained of, and alleged to have caused the death of the deceased and thus occasioned a liability on the part of the defendant, are the same in both declarations,— namely, the negligent maintenance of a certain superstructure. But, a “cause of action” involves more than the mere acts of the defendant, complained of. As was said in' Lee v. Republic Iron & Steel Co., 241 Ill.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
222 Ill. App. 181, 1921 Ill. App. LEXIS 114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/elaborated-ready-roofing-co-v-chicago-western-indiana-railroad-illappct-1921.