(DOWNLOAD) "Schutzenhofer v. Granite City Steel Co." by Supreme Court of Illinois ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Schutzenhofer v. Granite City Steel Co.
- Author : Supreme Court of Illinois
- Release Date : January 17, 1982
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 69 KB
Description
Plaintiff, John Schutzenhofer, obtained a $75,000 judgment in a Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) action against defendant, Granite City Steel Company, following a jury trial in the circuit court of Madison County for injuries resulting from a work-related accident. Defendant argued upon appeal that a pretrial summary judgment declaring defendant to be a common carrier by rail engaged in interstate commerce constituted error. The appellate court, in a split decision, affirmed on the grounds that defendant had not preserved that issue for review. (101 Ill. App.3d 683.) We granted defendant's petition for leave to appeal. Plaintiff, a switchman, was injured in September of 1976 while working on defendant's wholly owned railroad and brought an action for damages under the Federal Safety Appliance Act and the FELA. At the time of his injury, plaintiff was one of 251 trainmen employed by defendant. As part of its steel-producing operation, defendant maintained about 55 miles of track within its industrial complex and over 500 railway cars; this railway system was used principally to transport both raw material and partially processed iron within the complex. Prior to 1975, defendant also acted as an agent for several commercial railroad companies. In that capacity, defendant performed switching operations at the junction of its tracks and those of the other railroads and delivered, by rail, materials destined for several other industrial concerns which had spur lines connected only to defendant's tracks. In 1975, defendant terminated its agency contracts but continued to provide railway services for three other companies. Two of these concerns were located on property leased from defendant, and the third had its plant immediately adjacent to defendant's complex.