DocketNumber: No. 23949. Judgment affirmed.
Citation Numbers: 11 N.E.2d 378, 367 Ill. 256
Judges: Mr. JUSTICE ORR delivered the opinion of the court:
Filed Date: 10/15/1937
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/12/2023
Louis Waechter, an employee of the Plano Foundry Company, died on July 17, 1931, as a result of injuries received on May 4, 1931, during the course of his employment. (Plano Foundry Co. v.Industrial Com.
The parties hereto concede that Edward Waechter and his mother were both dependent on Louis Waechter at the time of his injury and death. Although both signed the claim for the compensation, the commission found that the mother was the sole dependent. This finding, under the admitted facts, was erroneous. (Peters v.Industrial Com.
The Industrial Commission is granted specific authority by statute to modify compensation awards from time to time "in its discretion with respect to the person to whom shall be paid the amount of said order or award remaining unpaid at the time of said modification." (State Bar Stat. 1935, chap. 48, sec. 7 (g), p. 1593.) No confusion will result from a modification of the award in this case, as the facts here are to be distinguished from those which controlled our decision in Trigg v. IndustrialCom.
It is the statutory duty of the Industrial Commission in every case to carefully determine whether the deceased left him surviving any "child or children whom he was under legal obligations to support at the time of said injury," and to whom compensation payments should be made in the event of the death or re-marriage of a widow. (Sec. 7 (a), supra.) It is the public policy of this State that courts should guard carefully the rights of minors and that a minor should not be precluded from enforcing his rights unless clearly debarred by some statute or constitutional provision. (Walgreen Co. v. Industrial Com.supra.) We have repeatedly held, especially on questions of dependency, that the Workmen's Compensation act should receive a practical and liberal construction. LaSalle County Carbon CoalCo. v. Industrial Com.
The order of the commission in this case, denying the prayer of the minor son for a modification of the award in his favor, was properly set aside by the circuit court.
The judgment is, therefore, affirmed.
Judgment affirmed. *Page 260
Lasalle County Coal Co. v. Indus. Com. , 356 Ill. 421 ( 1934 )
Hasterlik v. Hasterlik , 316 Ill. 72 ( 1925 )
Walgreen Co. v. Industrial Com. , 323 Ill. 194 ( 1926 )
Plano Foundry Co. v. Industrial Com. , 356 Ill. 186 ( 1934 )
Stanley Stanczyk, Jr., a Minor, by Stanley Stanczyk, Sr., ... , 384 F.2d 707 ( 1967 )
United States Ex Rel. Harrington v. Schlotfeldt , 136 F.2d 935 ( 1943 )
katherine-seal-and-charles-seal-james-seal-and-leslie-seal-minors-a-by , 245 F.2d 908 ( 1957 )
Skaggs v. Industrial Com. , 371 Ill. 535 ( 1939 )
Beckemeyer Coal Co. v. Industrial Com. , 370 Ill. 113 ( 1938 )
Weil-Kalter Mfg. Co. v. Industrial Com. , 376 Ill. 48 ( 1941 )
Hudson v. Thies , 35 Ill. App. 2d 189 ( 1962 )
Air Castle, Inc. v. Indus. Com. , 394 Ill. 62 ( 1946 )
Obear-Nester Glass Co. v. Indus. Com. , 398 Ill. 342 ( 1947 )
Weisgerber v. Workmen's Compensation Bureau , 70 N.D. 165 ( 1940 )