Citations
- 320 Ill. 281
Full opinion text
Mr. Chief Justice Dunn
delivered the opinion of the court:
Remeda Cavada, an employee of the Consolidated Coal Company of St. Louis, was accidentally injured on February 10, 1923, while engaged at his work. He filed an application for an adjustment of his claim with the Industrial Commission on June 27, 1923, on which there was a hearing on February 6, 1924, before an arbitrator. It was stipulated that the questions in dispute were the wages of the applicant for the year next preceding the injury, the nature and extent of the disability and the compensation due or to become due, if any. The arbitrator made an award on July 14, 1924, of $17 a week for 250 weeks and thereafter a pension of $28.33 a month for life, “for the reason that the injuries sustained caused permanent and complete disability, rendering the said Remeda Cavada wholly incapable of performing manual labor.” The coal company filed its petition for review and the cause was heard by the Industrial Commission, which on December 8, 1924, entered its decision sustaining the award of the arbitrator. This decision was confirmed by the circuit court of Williamson county, and on the petition of the coal company a writ of error to review the judgment was allowed.
The plaintiff in error contends, first, that the award of $17 a week for 250 weeks of permanent total disability and of a pension for life is inconsistent with the application for adjustment of the claim, which asked for compensation for partial disability, only; and second, that an award for total disability is not supported by the evidence.
The Workmen’s Compensation act does not prescribe the statements which an application to the commission for adjustment of claim shall contain, but it provides in paragraph (e) of section 19 that the application and other documents in the nature of pleadings filed by either party, together with the decisions of the arbitrator and of the Industrial Commission, and the statement of facts or stenographic reports provided for in paragraphs (b) and (c), shall be the record of the proceedings of the commission. It is therefore contemplated that the application for adjustment shall be in the nature of a pleading, and we have held that it should be consistent with the findings of the commission in making its award. (Garden City Foundry Co. v. Industrial Com. 307 Ill. 76; General Construction Co. v. Industrial Com. 314 id. 58; Consumers Co. v. Industrial Com. 315 id. 592.) It need not, however, state all the elements of a cause of action as in a declaration in an action at law. It is not a formal pleading and is not to be construed according to the rules of common law pleading. It is sufficient if it states the nature of the accident and the character of the injury so fully as to fairly advise the employer of the nature of the claim and to enable him to ascertain the facts and prepare to meet the claim. It may frequently be impossible to tell until long after the injury its extent or the degree of the disability which it will cause. The hearing before the arbitrator or the commission is informal, and while the burden of proof is on the claimant and the common law rules of evidence must be observed, the evidence is not necessarily confined to the allegations of the application but may extend to a full development of the facts of the accident and the nature and extent of the injury. The application was on a form which was designed for use in any case. Under section 4, headed “Additional amount claimed as compensation,” were six subdivisions,— (a,) (b,) (c,) (d,) (