CARRIE N. LAFONT, EXECUTRIX, ESTATE OF ALBERT W. LAFONT, Claimant, v. STATE OF ILLINOIS, Respondent.
Case summary
The claimant sought compensation for medical expenses incurred after the decedent injured his hand while working as a janitor. The court denied the claim, holding that the State was not engaged in a business and the decedent's duties were not extra hazardous, so the Workmen's Compensation Act did not apply.
Cases cited: Therien vs. Industrial Commission, 351 Ill. 160
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Headnotes
- WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT-not applied to all employees of State. The Workmen's Compensation Act does not automatically apply to all employees of the State, but only when they are engaged as such in an employment in a department of the State which is engaged in extra hazardous enterprises named in the Act.
- SAME-employment not extra hazardous. Janitor employed in office of Secretary of State is not engaged in extra hazardous employment and if injured while so employed, no award for compensation under Act will be made.
- SAME-pleading. Where complaint alleges no facts upon which award could be justified claim will be dismissed.
This claim was filed by plaintiff as the personal representative of the Estate of Albert W. LaFont, deceased, on August 11, 1931, for an award for doctor's bill and hospital bill in the respective sums of One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) and One Hundred Fifty-eight and 15/100 Dollars ($158.15), or a total of Three Hundred Eight and 15/100 Dollars ($308.15). Mr. LaFont was a cripple, having one artificial limb. He was employed by the Secretary of State for janitor duties about the State House, and at the time of the injury complained of, was assigned to remove the covers from discarded books. The record discloses that he took some of the books and placed one on top of another to make a seat, and while sitting on these books became over-balanced and in falling struck one of his hands against some scales. Several days later he reported the hand as getting along all right, but later suffered an infection in said hand. He died from other causes, as shown by the record, on April 23, 1931.
The duties of Albert W. LaFont could not in any sense be considered extra hazardous, and to justify an award to him, it would be necessary to hold that the State was engaged in the business of maintaining the building wherein he was then employed. The court is of the opinion that the maintenance of said Capitol building does not engage a major portion of the attention or time of the officers of the State, so as to bring it within the rule where the Workmen's Compensation Act would apply. As stated in the Therien case, "A janitor in a building not maintained as a 'business' by the employee is not within the Workmen's Compensation Act."
Therien vs. Industrial Commission, 351 Ill. 160.
The complaint alleges no facts upon which an award is justified.
An award is denied and claim dismissed.