Sjostrom v. Sproule

200 N.E.2d 19, 49 Ill. App. 2d 451, 1964 Ill. App. LEXIS 802
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 2, 1964
DocketGen. 49,124
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 200 N.E.2d 19 (Sjostrom v. Sproule) 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
Sjostrom v. Sproule, 200 N.E.2d 19, 49 Ill. App. 2d 451, 1964 Ill. App. LEXIS 802 (Ill. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

ME. PRESIDING JUSTICE BURKE

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is the second appeal in this case. On the first appeal we reversed the judgment directed for John H. Sproule, one of the defendants, and remanded the cause for a new trial. 34 Ill App2d 338, 181 NE2d 379. Sproule is now appealing from the $35,000 judgment entered against him upon the retrial without a jury. Initially plaintiff Sjostrom sued Sproule, who was driving the car in which the plaintiff was riding, John Scott and International Shoe Company, the driver and owner of the car with which the collision occurred on December 4, 1952. At the close of all the evidence in the first trial, Sproule was directed out on a separate affirmative defense that sec 5 of the Illinois Workmen’s Compensation Act barred the action against him and the jury returned a $15,000 verdict for plaintiff and against the remaining defendants. These two defendants appealed from the judgment and the plaintiff cross-appealed from the part of the judgment entered on the directed verdict in Sproule’s favor. We reversed the judgment against Scott and International with directions to the trial court to enter judgment in their favor and also reversed the judgment in Sproule’s favor and remanded with directions to try the case between Sjostrom and Sproule on the question of wilful and wanton misconduct. We denied Sproule’s petition for rehearing. Upon the remand, judgment was entered for Scott and International. Plaintiff and Sproule, hereinafter called the defendant, stipulated to waive a jury and to have the trial court hear the case on the same record without further evidence. This was done and defendant, by appropriate motions, raised the same separate affirmative defense. The court entered judgment against him for $35,000. He appeals, relying on his separate affirmative defense.

The facts relating to the affirmative defense are uncontradicted. Armour & Co., the employer, was under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of Illinois in 1952. This employer was self-insured. Its main engineering department was at 43rd Street and Racine Avenue in the Stockyards in Chicago. Plaintiff was a Civil Engineer who had been employed by Armour since 1946. Defendant, a Mechanical Engineer, had been employed by Armour since 1929. Defendant was in the main engineering department office. About March 1952, plaintiff was assigned to the plant in Bradley, Illinois, to represent Armour in the building of a plant there. His assignment was to see that the job was done according to the plans and specifications; generally to see that the job was expedited and that there were no delays that could be prevented by any coordinating he could do on the job. Defendant was assigned to the job by the Chief Engineer in September, 1952, and his responsibility was the overseeing and coordination of machinery, boilers and pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment. Both worked there continuously from the start of their assignment until the day of the occurrence on December 4,1952. They did all their work there, communicating with the Chicago office by telephone or by mail. The customary working hours were the same as in the general office; either from between 8:00 a. m. and 4:30 p. m. or between 8:30 a. m. and 5:00 p. m. The working hours began at Bradley. Neither man punched a time clock. Both went back and forth to their homes in Chicago every day.

Bradley is about 6 miles north of Kankakee. Plaintiff lived at 10807 South Church Street, Chicago and defendant at 7516 South Cornell Avenue in Chicago. It was 9 or 10 miles from plaintiff’s home to the scene of the mishap, which, in turn, was between 30 and 32 miles from the plant at Bradley. No public transportation was available that would take plaintiff from his home to Bradley. While the Illinois Central went right past the plant at Bradley, no trains stopped there in 1952. Defendant was familiar with the custom and practice of Armour with reference to engineering assignments away from Chicago. The custom and practice, with reference to reimbursement of expenses, was to reimburse the employees for all expenses involved in leaving the headquarters city. That included all forms of-transportation, lodging, meals, tips, laundry if away from home for more than a week, telephone expenses, postal expenses and any special expenses the employee might have due to handling his employer’s business. Travel expenses included an allowance for the use of the employee’s own car. In 1952 that allowance was 6 cents a mile. This was the custom and practice that had existed as long as defendant had been with Armour and it existed at the time of the trial. Defendant had not been on any assignment where he was not reimbursed in the described manner.

After his assignment to Bradley in September 1952, defendant drove his own car for about 2 weeks. This car was the Buick involved in the accident. He was allowed and paid 6<¡; a mile. During these two weeks he also received reimbursement for other elements of expense in Bradley; he charged his lunches to Armour and if he were there late in the evening, charged dinner to it. He did not at any time use any public transportation between his home and Bradley. He used his own car and later the company car. When plaintiff was assigned to Bradley, he drove most of the time in a company car. At one time, for a few days, Armour sent a man to Bradley who lived in plaintiff’s neighborhood and plaintiff rode with him in his car. At other times plaintiff drove his oAvn car. He never went by any other method than by automobile. Plaintiff, too, was reimbursed for driving Ms own car on tbe basis of 6^ a mile. He obtained reimbursement by presenting a bill to the company offices in Chicago. That was his regular expense account. He was also reimbursed for other items. At the time defendant was assigned to the project in Bradley, plaintiff was driving a Ford car owned by Armour which was charged to the plaintiff. His expenses for gasoline and oil incurred in driving the company car were reimbursed to him at the end of a two-week period. In September 1952, about two weeks after defendant had been assigned to Bradley, the practice of driving his own car was changed. Mr. Blanding, the overall supervisor on the Bradley construction job and plaintiff’s immediate supervisor, advised the defendant that he wanted to eliminate the duplicate expense; that plaintiff was driving a company car and that he thought defendant should ride with plaintiff to his home, then take the company car on over to defendant’s home and in the morning come back and pick up plaintiff and come to Bradley. The supervisor preferred that both ride together in the company car. After the supervisor’s directions, plaintiff and defendant drove to Bradley together in the company Ford until the week before the accident, when the company car had mechanical trouble. Then they drove in defendant’s car. It took defendant 20 to 25 minutes longer to go from his home to the plant in Bradley if he had to pick up plaintiff on the way. During the period that both drove in the company car plaintiff still paid the bills and was reimbursed by Armour as he had been prior to the times defendant rode with him.

On the Monday before Thanksgiving plaintiff did not go to work and defendant drove the company car to Bradley. On the way home that evening an oil filter developed a leak. The motor overheated and burned some of the bearings. Defendant had difficulty in driving to his home. He parked the company car in front of his house. He knew that the car would not be in condition to be driven to Bradley the next morning.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
200 N.E.2d 19, 49 Ill. App. 2d 451, 1964 Ill. App. LEXIS 802, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sjostrom-v-sproule-illappct-1964.