Rogers v. Illinois Central Railroad

210 Ill. App. 577, 1918 Ill. App. LEXIS 312
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 5, 1918
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 210 Ill. App. 577 (Rogers v. Illinois Central 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
Rogers v. Illinois Central Railroad, 210 Ill. App. 577, 1918 Ill. App. LEXIS 312 (Ill. Ct. App. 1918).

Opinion

Mr. Presiding Justice Boggs

delivered fhe opinion of the court.

An action on the case was instituted in the Circuit Court of Massac county by plaintiff in error, hereinafter called plaintiff, against defendant in error, hereinafter called defendant, to recover damages for injuries sustained by him while engaged as an employee of the Ayer & Lord Tie Company, hereinafter called the Tie Company, in loading railroad ties for said Tie Company from its freight yard into cars to be carried by defendant company.

The declaration as finally amended consists of two counts. The first count charges, in substance, that defendant Railroad Company operated a certain spur track located on the premises of said Tie Company and which connected with the main line of defendant’s railroad in said county, and used the said spur track for the purpose of loading its cars with freight; that on the 15th of August, 1916, defendant placed upon said spur ten ears to be loaded with crossties from the freight yard of said Tie Company for shipment on its said railroad; that plaintiff was in the employ of said Tie Company for the purpose of loading said ties, and which so engaged the “defendant by its agents and servants negligently and carelessly drove a certain locomotive engine and train of cars of the defendant into and upon the said spur track and to and against the car in which the plaintiff was then and there necessarily standing in the discharge of his duties, and while the plaintiff was using due care for his own safety, and struck the car aforesaid with great force and violence,” and that by means whereof plaintiff received the injuries complained of, alleges damages, etc.

The second count is substantially the same as the first except that in addition to the averments in the first count it alleges that the ties being loaded by plaintiff at the time of the injury were consigned to Detroit, Michigan. A demurrer filed by defendant to said declaration was by the court sustained. Plaintiff elected to abide by said declaration, and a judgment was thereupon rendered against him in bar of action and for costs. To reverse said judgment this writ of error is prosecuted.

It is first contended by plaintiff for a reversal of said judgment that it does not appear from the averments of said declaration that said Tie Company was at the time of the alleged injury engaged in an extra-hazardous business as contemplated by section 3 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act [Callaghan’s 1916 St. Supp. [[ 5475(3)]. The declaration does not specifically aver as to whether plaintiff, said Tie Company, or the defendant were operating under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. That question can only he determined from the averments of fact set forth in the declaration. The declaration avers, among other things, that the defendant “operated a certain spur trade then and there being located on the premises of the Ayer & Lord Tie Company connecting with the main line of the' railroad aforesaid, in the City of Brook-port, in said county.” It is further averred in said declaration that defendant “on the day aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, placed upon the said spur track a large number of cars, to wit, ten cars, to be loaded with crossties for shipment upon its said railroad by the owner and shipper of said ties, to wit, the Ayer & Lord Tie Company, a corporation, from the freight yard and premises of said Ayer & Lord Tie Company then adjoining said spur track; the plaintiff then and there being in the hire and employment of the said Ayer & Lord Tie Company for the purpose of loading the ties of the said Ayer & Lord Tie Company into and upon the cars of the defendant aforesaid.”

Paragraph “b” of section 3 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1913 [Callaghan’s 1916 St. Supp. [[ 5475(3) (b)] provides that: “The provisions of paragraph (a) of this section shall only apply to an employer engaged in any of the following occupations, enterprises or businesses, namely:” (Here follow four subdivisions), number 3 of said subdivisions being: “Carriage by land or water and loading or unloading in connection therewith.” The averments of the declaration are to the effect that the Tie Company was engaged in the business of loading and unloading in connection with carriage by land. In other words, that defendant was a common carrier. The spur track referred to was on the premises of and belonged to said Tie Company and it was engaged at the time of the injury to plaintiff in loading ties on cars placed on said spur by defendant. These ties were to be carried by land as contemplated by the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Said Tie Company would therefore be conclusively presumed to have elected to pay compensation thereunder, unless it had filed its election not to do so with the Industrial Board as provided by said statute.

Plaintiff at the time of his injury being an employee of said Tie Company, and being engaged in loading ties in the cars placed on said spur by defendant, would conclusively be presumed to be operating under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

In Friebel v. Chicago City Ry. Co., 280 Ill. 76 [16 N. C. C. A. 390], the court at page 82 says: “Under the holding of this court in Armour S Co. v. Industrial Board of Illinois, 275 Ill. 328, appellant’s employer, the Hartman Furniture and Carpet Company, in maintaining its warehouse for the storing of its furniture and from which distribution of furniture was made to its customers, was operating a warehouse within the meaning of subdivision 4 of paragraph (b) of section 3 of the Compensation Act [Callaghan’s 1916 St. Supp. 5475(3) (b) 4], and was therefore engaged in one of the hazardous occupations mentioned in section 3. Appellant and his employer having made no election not to be bound by the Compensation Act were automatically brought within its provisions and are governed by all of those provisions, provided appellant at the time of his injury was engaged in an employment connected with the operation of said warehouse.” "

It is next contended by plaintiff that the injury complained of did not arise out of and in the course of his employment as contemplated by the statute. Without going into an extended discussion of this proposition we are of the opinion that the injury sued for in this case did arise out of and in the course of plaintiff’s employment. The declaration avers that he was in the employ of said Tie Company and that said Tie Company was engaged in the business of loading ties for shipment with defendant railroad, and that at the time of the injury and while in the employ of said Tie Company he was injured while loading ties on said spur track.

Lastly it is insisted by plaintiff that even though he, the defendant in error, and the Tie Company were all operating under and were bound by the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, and even if plaintiff’s sole remedy is a proceeding before the Industrial Board for compensation instead of a common-law action based on negligence for damages, that defendant cannot take advantage of this by demurrer, because the declaration fails to allege positively either that these parties were or were not operating under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. At the time of this "alleged injury the Workmen’s Compensation Act was in full' force and effect.

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Bluebook (online)
210 Ill. App. 577, 1918 Ill. App. LEXIS 312, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rogers-v-illinois-central-railroad-illappct-1918.