Fort Dearborn Cartage Company ex rel. Chubb & Son, Inc. v. Rooks Transfer Co.

483 N.E.2d 618, 136 Ill. App. 3d 371, 91 Ill. Dec. 272, 1985 Ill. App. LEXIS 2409
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 10, 1985
DocketNo. 84-2868
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 483 N.E.2d 618 (Fort Dearborn Cartage Company ex rel. Chubb & Son, Inc. v. Rooks Transfer Co.) 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
Fort Dearborn Cartage Company ex rel. Chubb & Son, Inc. v. Rooks Transfer Co., 483 N.E.2d 618, 136 Ill. App. 3d 371, 91 Ill. Dec. 272, 1985 Ill. App. LEXIS 2409 (Ill. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

JUSTICE HARTMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

In an action brought by plaintiff “loaning” employer to recover from defendant “borrowing” employer amounts paid to an injured employee under section 1(a)(4) of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 48, par. 138.1(a)(4)), the circuit court entered summary judgment in defendant’s favor, from which plaintiff appeals, questioning whether the contract between plaintiff and defendant relieved defendant of reimbursement liability under the Act.

On April 11, 1971, plaintiff and defendant entered into a written contract whereby, among other things, plaintiff cartage company agreed to provide to defendant carrier certain freight-handling and delivery services, and to maintain sufficient personnel and equipment to provide such services.

On July 20, 1977, David Natalino, a truck driver employed by plaintiff, was injured in the course of his employment. Natalino subsequently filed a claim under the Act, naming both plaintiff and defendant as respondents. On October 18, 1977, the workmen’s compensation arbitrator entered a decision awarding certain sums to Natalino, and finding that plaintiff was the loaning employer and defendant the borrowing employer under section 1(a)(4) of the Act. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 48, par. 138.1(a)(4).) The decision expressly noted that it did not address the issues of contribution, reimbursement, or indemnification as between the employers. The arbitrator’s decision was affirmed on review by the Industrial Commission on November 1, 1978.

After plaintiff paid Natalino benefits in the amount of $9,991.86, it initiated the instant action, seeking reimbursement of these benefits, together with costs and attorney fees. Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment was denied on February 1, 1983. Defendant’s motion for summary judgment, filed on August 2, 1984, was granted on October 24,1984. The instant appeal ensued.

Plaintiff contends that thé circuit court erred by determining, as a matter of law, that the contract at issue indemnified defendant from reimbursement liability under the Act.

The parties agree that the instant dispute turns on the interpretation accorded section 1(a)(4) of the Act, which provides, in pertinent part (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 48, par. 138.1(a)(4)):

“Where an employer operating under and subject to the provisions of this Act loans an employee to another such employer and such loaned employee sustains a compensable accidental injury in the employment of such borrowing employer and where such borrowing employer does not provide or pay the benefits or payments due such injured employee, such loaning employer is liable to provide or pay all benefits or payments due such employee under this Act and as to such employee the liability of such loaning and borrowing employers is joint and several, provided that such loaning employer is in the absence of agreement to the contrary entitled to receive from such borrowing employer full reimbursement for all sums paid or incurred pursuant to this paragraph together with reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses in any hearings before the Industrial Commission or in any action to secure such reimbursement.”

Thus, with respect to an injured employee, the liability of the loaning and borrowing employers is joint and several; as between employers, the borrowing employer is primarily liable and the loaning employer secondarily liable, the latter being required to pay only when the borrowing employer fails to do so, and is then entitled to reimbursement from the borrowing employer. (Chicago’s Finest Workers Co. v. Industrial Com. (1975), 61 Ill. 2d 340, 343-45, 335 N.E.2d 434; see also A.J. Johnson Paving Co. v. Industrial Com. (1980), 82 Ill. 2d 341, 350, 412 N.E.2d 477; M.W.M. Trucking Co. v. Industrial Com. (1976), 62 Ill. 2d 245, 260, 342 N.E.2d 17.) The loaning employer’s right to reimbursement, however, may be waived by an agreement between the respective employers. Albert Mojonnier, Inc. v. Industrial Com. (1968), 41 Ill. 2d 128, 133, 242 N.E.2d 184; Lachona v. Industrial Com. (1981), 87 Ill. 2d 208, 213, 429 N.E.2d 858.

In the contract between plaintiff and defendant here, plaintiff agreed: “To protect, save harmless and indemnify Carrier [defendant] from and against all loss, damages, costs and expenses that may be suffered or incurred by Carrier or any other person, on account of (1) Injury to or death of persons *** caused by or resulting in any manner from any acts or omissions, negligence [sic] or otherwise, of the Cartage Company [plaintiff], or any of the Cartage Company’s agents, servants or employees, in performing or failing to perform any of the services or duties on the part of the Cartage Company to be performed as herein provided ***.” Plaintiff urges that the circuit court erred by determining that this general language sufficed to indemnify defendant from liability under the circumstances of this case. We disagree.

First, plaintiff argues that the agreement did not specify that liability under the Act was being shifted, relying upon Lachona v. Industrial Com. (1981), 87 Ill. 2d 208, 429 N.E.2d 858, and Albert Mojonnier, Inc. v. Industrial Com. (1968), 41 Ill. 2d 128, 242 N.E.2d 184. Neither of these cases, however, suggested that an “agreement to the contrary,” within the meaning of the Act, must expressly refer to the Act in order to be effective, as plaintiff urges. Although the agreement held to be binding in Lachona v. Industrial Com. (1981), 87 Ill. 2d 208, 429 N.E.2d 858, specified the Act, the supreme court did not require such specificity. In Albert Mojonnier, Inc. v. Industrial Com. (1968), 41 Ill. 2d 128, 242 N.E.2d 184, the supreme court rejected an argument that an advertising circular promoting the loaning employer’s insurance coverage and bonding structure constituted an effective “agreement”; the court did not indicate what degree of particularity would be needed to properly waive the reimbursement requirement. The cited cases, therefore, are not dispositive here.

Plaintiff also maintains that a valid indemnification agreement must express clearly and unequivocally the parties’ intent to indemnify one of them from his own or his servant’s negligence. (See Westinghouse Electric Elevator Co. v. LaSalle Monroe Building Corp. (1946), 395 Ill. 429, 433, 70 N.E.2d 604; Higgins v. Kleronomos (1984), 121 Ill. App. 3d 316, 320, 459 N.E.2d 1048

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Bluebook (online)
483 N.E.2d 618, 136 Ill. App. 3d 371, 91 Ill. Dec. 272, 1985 Ill. App. LEXIS 2409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fort-dearborn-cartage-company-ex-rel-chubb-son-inc-v-rooks-transfer-illappct-1985.