Thiedor v. State

11 Ill. Ct. Cl. 152, 1939 Ill. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 106
CourtCourt of Claims of Illinois
DecidedNovember 14, 1939
DocketNo. 2685
StatusPublished

This text of 11 Ill. Ct. Cl. 152 (Thiedor v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Claims of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thiedor v. State, 11 Ill. Ct. Cl. 152, 1939 Ill. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 106 (Ill. Super. Ct. 1939).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Hollebich

delivered the opinion of the conrt:

On March 1st, 1934 Emily Hillier entered the service of the respondent as an attendant at the Elgin State Hospital, Elgin, Illinois, and continued to perform the duties of an attendant at that institution until October 26th, 1934. On the last mentioned date, she was instructed by the nurse in charge of Burr Cottage to take one Buth Alpert, an inmate" of the institution, to the dental office which was about three blocks away. Said Buth Alpert had been an inmate of the institution for some time, was then about thirty-three years of age, and was about five feet, nine or ten inches tall. .She was strong and vigorous and very stubborn and resistive; was difficult to handle, and was known as a runaway patient. Ordinarily, resistive and runaway patients were sent to the dental office by bus, but on the day in question, no bus was provided, and Emily Hillier walked to such office with the patient. On the way back to the cottage the patient was very resistive. She stamped on the attendant’s feet, kicked her in the legs, attempted to get away, and resisted strenuously all the way from the dentist’s office back to the cottage. The nearer she got to the cottage, the worse she behaved, and the attendant had to hold her arms and push and drag her back to the cottage. As she approached the cottage, Mrs. Hillier felt herself getting weak, and she collapsed and became unconscious just after she got inside the doorway.

She was immediately placed in an ambulance and taken to the General Hospital on the institution grounds, where she remained until December 4th, 1934. After she left the hospital she stayed with her son in Elgin for about a week, and then returned to her daughter’s home in Streator, where she continued to live up to the time of the hearing herein.

She claimed that she was totally and permanently disabled as the result of injuries sustained on October 26th, 1934 as aforesaid, and on June 17th, 1935 she filed her complaint in, this court. On June 19th, 1938, while her claim was still pending in this court, she died. On October 13th, 1938 her death was suggested of record, and pursuant to leave of court, Stella A. Thiedor, as Executrix of the Last Will and Testament of Emily Hillier, deceased, was substituted for the decedent as plaintiff in this cause.

The Attorney General raises the following questions, to-wit:

1. Were the employer and the employee operating under the provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act at the time of the occurrence on October 26th, 1934?

2. Did Mrs. Hillier sustain an accidental injury?

3. If so, did the same arise out of and in the course of her employment ?

I.

Were the Employer and the Employee Operating Under the Provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act?

It appears from the evidence in the record that the grounds of the Elgin State Hospital, including the Farm Colony, comprise about 900 acres; the exact number of buildings thereon is not disclosed by the evidence, but reference is made therein to the Main Building which has four stories, basement and attic; also an electric lighting plant; a general hospital; a machine shop; and a number of cottages, including Burr Cottage, Salster Cottage, Hogan Cottage, and Holden Cottage. The electric light plant is of the size ordinarily used in cities of 10,000 to 15,000 population. There is an electrically operated laundry; a machine shop with a lathe and mill, which machine shop contains sharp-edged cutting tools and instruments.

From the foregoing statement, there can be.no question but what the respondent, in the operation of the Elgin State Hospital, is engaged in an enterprise or business, within the meaning of those words as used in the Compensation Act, and as defined by our Supreme Court. Uphoff vs. Industrial Board, 271 Ill. 312; Hahnemann Hospital vs. Ind. Com., 282 Ill. 316; Board of Education vs. Ind. Com., 301 Ill. 611.

The claimant contends that the enterprise in which the respondent was engaged, is an enterprise in which statutory or municipal ordinance regulations were then imposed for the regulating, guarding, use, or the placing of machinery or appliances, or for the protection and safeguarding of the employees or the public therein; also that such enterprise is an enterprise in which sharp-edged cutting tools or implements are used; — and that by virtue of Section Three (3) of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, the provisions of such Act apply automatically to the employer and the employee therein.

The Attorney General contends that municipal ordinance regulations have no application to State institutions and buildings, and that statutory regulations have no application to the State unless they are specifically made to apply to it.

The facts in the record, however, disclose that the machine shop on the hospital grounds contains sharp-edged cutting tools, and consequently the enterprise in question is directly within the provisions of Paragraph 7% of Section Three (3) of the Compensation Act, and therefore the claimant’s intestate and the respondent were automatically bound by the provisions of the Compensation Act. It therefore becomes unnecessary to consider the question raised by the Attorney General as to the application of the provisions of Paragraph Eight (8) of Section Three (3) of the Compensation Act relative to statutory or municipal ordinance regulations.

II and III.

Did the Claimant’s. Intestate Sustain an Accidental Injury; and If So, Did the Same Arise Out of and in the Course of Her Employment?

The record shows that Mrs. Hillier was sixty (60) years of age at the time she entered the employment of the respondent ; that she worked continuously from the time she entered such employment on March 1st, 1934 until October 26th, 1934, except for three days when she was in the hospital on account of a cold, and two or three days' when she was laid up on! account of vaccination, and that the time she so lost was afterwards made up by her.

Dr. George L. Wilson, who was the family physician of the claimant’s intestate, testified that he examined her in the fall of 1933; that she then had diabetes millitis, a light case; that she had an increased blood pressure, sometimes 185, sometimes 200; that there was nothing in her blood pressure that would interfere with the performance of ordinary labor; that she had a slig’ht heart murmur; that the heart muscle was well compensated, and that there was nothing in any of such conditions which would interfere with the performance of ordinary labor on her part; that he also examined her on the last of January, 1934, and her condition was about the same as at the time of the previous examination.

Claimant; was also examined at the institution when she reported for work on March 1st, 1934. Her examination at that time showed a heart lesion, high blood pressure, and some diabetes. Notwithstanding that fact, she was accepted for work and continued to perform her duties regularly and satisfactorily until October 26th, 1934 except for the few days that she was in the hospital as hereinbefore set forth.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
11 Ill. Ct. Cl. 152, 1939 Ill. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thiedor-v-state-ilclaimsct-1939.