Young v. St. Elizabeth Hospital

475 N.E.2d 603, 131 Ill. App. 3d 193, 86 Ill. Dec. 389, 1985 Ill. App. LEXIS 1644
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 11, 1985
Docket84-1041
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 475 N.E.2d 603 (Young v. St. Elizabeth Hospital) 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
Young v. St. Elizabeth Hospital, 475 N.E.2d 603, 131 Ill. App. 3d 193, 86 Ill. Dec. 389, 1985 Ill. App. LEXIS 1644 (Ill. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

JUSTICE HARTMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, an employee of Stewart-Warner Corporation (Stewart-Warner), brought suit against defendants, alleging negligent treatment of his injuries sustained on the job and while in the course of his employment at Stewart-Warner ’ s plant. Plaintiff appeals from the dismissal of his third amended complaint against Dr. Zmigrodski, a company doctor (doctor), with prejudice, on the grounds that his cause of action was barred by the exclusive-remedy provision, section 5(a) of the Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 48, par. 138.5(a)). The dismissal order contained appropriate Supreme Court Rule 304 language. 87 Ill. 2d R. 304.

On July 25, 1977, when plaintiff sustained injuries to his left leg, he received treatment by the doctor at the medical facility on the plant’s premises. Approximately one month later he was admitted to St. Elizabeth Hospital by the doctor for further care. Plaintiff filed a worker’s compensation claim in connection with his injury and obtained a lump sum settlement. The doctor sent no bill to plaintiff for medical services rendered either at the plant or at the hospital.

This litigation arose when plaintiff filed a common law medical malpractice suit against the doctor and others. The doctor’s section 2 — 619 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 110, par. 2 — 619) motion, alleging that the exclusive-remedy provision of the Act precluded plaintiff’s common law cause of action, was supported by an affidavit of a vice president of Stewart-Warner purporting to establish that the doctor was an employee of Stewart-Warner at all relevant times. The circuit court’s order granting the doctor’s motion was based upon the finding that plaintiff and the doctor were co-employees and that the treatment rendered to plaintiff was within the scope of the doctor’s employment.

Plaintiff challenges the dismissal, alleging that he and the doctor were not co-employees or, alternatively, that an exception to the exclusive-remedy provision, the “dual-capacity doctrine,” is applicable here. Both of plaintiff’s alternatives must be rejected.

I

The exclusive-remedy provision of the Act abolishes common law actions by an employee against his employer or co-employer or co-employee for injuries arising out of employment. (Sharp v. Gallagher (1983), 95 Ill. 2d 322, 326, 447 N.E.2d 786; McCormick v. Caterpillar Tractor Co. (1981), 85 Ill. 2d 352, 356, 423 N.E.2d 876; Toth v. Westinghouse Elevator Co. (1983), 114 Ill. App. 3d 905, 907, 449 N.E.2d 1005.) Here, however, plaintiff contends that there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether he and defendant were co-employees. He cites Crepps v. Industrial Com. (1949), 402 Ill. 606, 614, 85 N,E.2d 5, for the principle that while there is no rule to determine whether a person’s status is that of an employee, there are factors which have evidentiary weight on this issue, the most important factor being the extent to which the person for whom work is being done has retained control over the worker. In the instant case, plaintiff asserts that Stewart-Warner did not retain control over the doctor at either the plant medical facilities or at St. Elizabeth Hospital because no lay person could supervise a doctor. Thus, plaintiff concludes, a genuine issue of material fact was raised which the circuit court should have allowed a jury to resolve. We disagree.

The affidavit of Stewart-Warner’s vice president set forth the following facts: The doctor was employed by Stewart-Warner from 1973 to 1978 as manager of medical services. His duties included the examination and treatment only of Stewart-Warner employees who were injured at work, which services were made available to such employees without charge. He received an annual salary from Stewart-Warner which was not contingent upon the number of employees he treated. He worked a fixed number of hours per week at Stewart-Warner. The company made social security contributions on his behalf, and his eligibility for pension and medical insurance benefits was identical to that of other company employees. The doctor’s medical support personnel and facilities were provided by Stewart-Warner. Finally, the company retained the power and authority to discharge the doctor from his employment.

Employee status of a company doctor was demonstrated on similar affidavits in Komel v. Commonwealth Edison Co. (1977), 56 Ill. App. 3d 967, 372 N.E.2d 842. In that case, the appellate court found that because plaintiff did not effectively controvert such affidavits, he failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact regarding the doctor’s employee status. (Komel v. Commonwealth Edison Co. (1977), 56 Ill. App. 3d 967, 972-73, 372 N.E.2d 842.) The court, therefore, affirmed the circuit court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s negligence action against the company doctor on the ground that the exclusive-remedy provision of the Act barred the common law action. Komel v. Commonwealth Edison Co. (1977), 56 Ill. App. 3d 967, 971, 372 N.E.2d 842.

In the instant case, the affidavit of Stewart-Warner’s vice president contains clear indicia of the doctor’s employee status and provided the circuit court a sufficient basis upon which to determine that plaintiff’s action is precluded by the exclusive-remedy provision of the Act. (Komel v. Commonwealth Edison Co. (1977), 56 Ill. App. 3d 967, 372 N.E.2d 842; Hayes v. Marshall Field & Co. (1953), 351 Ill. App. 329, 115 N.E.2d 99.) In a deposition, plaintiff referred to Dr. Zmigrodski as the “company doctor,” although in a later affidavit he explained that he so described him because he could not pronounce his name and could not say whether he was or was not the company doctor. Plaintiff’s affidavit further stating that he did not consider the doctor to be a fellow employee did not probatively contradict the vice president’s affidavit, nor did it raise a genuine issue of material fact as to that pivotal issue. Komel v. Commonwealth Edison Co. (1977), 56 Ill. App. 3d 967, 372 N.E.2d 842; Kinney v. Continental Assurance Co. (1976), 42 Ill. App. 3d 263, 266, 356 N.E.2d 131. See also Fooden v. Board of Governors (1971), 48 Ill. 2d 580, 587, 272 N.E.2d 497, cert, denied (1972), 408 U.S. 943, 33 L. Ed. 2d 766, 92 S. Ct. 2847.

II

Plaintiff’s alternative contention is that even if the doctor was his co-employee, his cause of action should survive the exclusive-remedy provision of the Act by virtue of the dual-capacity doctrine.

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Bluebook (online)
475 N.E.2d 603, 131 Ill. App. 3d 193, 86 Ill. Dec. 389, 1985 Ill. App. LEXIS 1644, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/young-v-st-elizabeth-hospital-illappct-1985.