{ "id": 5453750, "name": "In re Estate of ANICE P. CAHILL, Deceased.-(Chris Vallas, Coroner of Macon County, Claimant-Appellant, (4-82-0139) v. Daniel Cahill, Ex'r of the Estate of Anice P. Cahill, Deceased, Respondent-Appellee.); In re Estate of THELMA D. SCHAUB, Deceased.-(Chris Vallas, Coroner of Macon County, Claimant-Appellant, (4-82-0140) v. Frederick Schaub, Ex'r of the Estate of Thelma D. Schaub, Deceased, Respondent-Appellee.)", "name_abbreviation": "Vallas v. Cahill", "decision_date": "1982-09-21", "docket_number": "Nos. 4-82-0139, 4-82-0140 cons.", "first_page": "423", "last_page": "426", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "109 Ill. App. 3d 423" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.", "id": 8837, "name": "Illinois Appellate Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 29, "name_long": "Illinois", "name": "Ill." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "269 N.E.2d 107", "category": "reporters:state_regional", "reporter": "N.E.2d", "pin_cites": [ { "page": "109" } ], "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "131 Ill. App. 2d 995", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 2d", "case_ids": [ 2907632 ], "pin_cites": [ { "page": "997" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-2d/131/0995-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 416, "char_count": 7148, "ocr_confidence": 0.767, "pagerank": { "raw": 4.03580807328026e-08, "percentile": 0.15973749820935507 }, "sha256": "1f38b8448796dcbcb8f6586a9bb62e187269e892374accc2562ffbb4bf77d6bd", "simhash": "1:3e83dfccf0aea3a2", "word_count": 1189 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T21:00:34.731811+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "In re Estate of ANICE P. CAHILL, Deceased.\u2014(Chris Vallas, Coroner of Macon County, Claimant-Appellant, (4\u201482\u20140139) v. Daniel Cahill, Ex\u2019r of the Estate of Anice P. Cahill, Deceased, Respondent-Appellee.)\u2014In re Estate of THELMA D. SCHAUB, Deceased.\u2014(Chris Vallas, Coroner of Macon County, Claimant-Appellant, (4\u2014 82\u20140140) v. Frederick Schaub, Ex\u2019r of the Estate of Thelma D. Schaub, Deceased, Respondent-Appellee.)" ], "opinions": [ { "text": "JUSTICE LONDRIGAN\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nIn these two consolidated cases, the Coroner of Macon County filed claims in the respective estates seeking a fee for the preliminary investigation conducted by the coroner in each case. The trial judge denied both claims, finding that the investigations were not required under section 10 of \u201cAn Act to revise the law in relation to coroners\u201d (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 31, par. 10). We affirm.\nThe issue presented for review is whether the coroner is entitled to his fees for conducting a preliminary investigation in each case.\nArtice Cahill became ill at church on September 27, 1980, and was taken to St. Mary\u2019s Hospital and placed in the intensive care unit until her death October 1, 1980. She was under the care of Dr. Charles 0. Stanley while in the hospital.\nThe death certificate was signed by Dr. Charles 0. Stanley, who attended Mrs. Cahill from March 20, 1961, until her death, and contained a notation that the coroner had been notified; the coroner\u2019s records showed that a preliminary investigation was conducted.\nMrs. Cahill\u2019s death certificate was admitted into evidence. It stated that she was 85 years old and listed the immediate cause of her death as brain stem stroke with respiratory failure. The stated approximate interval between the onset of that condition and death was four days. Addison\u2019s disease was listed as another significant condition contributing to her death. No autopsy was performed.\nChris Valias, Coroner of Macon County, stated that the coroner\u2019s investigation revealed that Mrs. Cahill\u2019s death was a natural death.\nOn February 1, 1980, Thelma Schaub was stricken while eating supper and taken to Decatur Memorial Hospital. She was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital by Dr. Paul R. Stanley and remained there until her death on February 4, 1980, under the care of Dr. Paul R. Stanley and Dr. Hubbard.\nValias testified that according to the coroner\u2019s records the coroner was called by the hospital and conducted a preliminary investigation and that the standard procedure is for the doctor and coroner to confer about which one of them will sign the death certificate.\nThe death certificate was signed by Dr. Paul R. Stanley, and there was no notation that the coroner was called by the doctor.\nMrs. Schaub\u2019s death certificate was admitted into evidence. It noted that she was 76 years old and listed the immediate cause of her death as brain stem infarction; the stated approximate interval between the onset of that condition and death was three days. There was no notation on the certificate that the coroner was notified of Mrs. Schaub\u2019s death. No autopsy was performed.\nValias stated that his predecessor as coroner, Dr. John K. Morrison, and Mrs. Schaub\u2019s attending physician concluded that her death was a natural death. The coroner\u2019s report indicated that Dr. Paul R. Stanley would sign the death certificate. The police were not notified of Mrs. Schaub\u2019s death, no blood specimens were taken, and no inquest was performed.\nThe authority of a coroner to make a preliminary investigation into the circumstances of a death is governed by section 10 of \u201cAn Act to revise the law in relation to coroners\u201d (111. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 31, par. 10), which says in pertinent part:\n\u201cEvery coroner, whenever, as soon as he knows or is informed that the dead body of any person is found, or lying within his county, whose death is suspected of being:\n(a) A sudden or violent death, whether apparently suicidal, homicidal or accidental, including but not limited to deaths apparently caused or contributed to by thermal, traumatic, chemical, electrical or radiational injury, or a complication of any of them, or by drowning or suffocation;\n(b) A maternal or fetal death due to abortion, or any death due to a sex crime or a crime against nature;\n(c) A death where the circumstances are suspicious, obscure, mysterious or otherwise unexplained or where, in the written opinion of the attending physician, the cause of death is not determined;\n(d) A death where addiction to alcohol or to any drug may have been a contributory cause; or\n(e) A death where the decedent was not attended by a licensed physician;\nshall go to the place where the dead body is, and take charge of the same and shall make a preliminary investigation into the circumstances of the death.\u201d\nThe trial judge made only factual findings in his February 10, 1982, docket entry stating in part as follows:\n\u201cAfter reviewing the testimony and exhibits in this case and various cases cited by counsel, it is the finding of the Court that although the coroner\u2019s office may have been requested to be present by some member of the hospital staff, there was no indication that at the time the coroner was summoned, any of the conditions cited in Sec. 10(a)-(e) existed with regard to the decedent.\nIt is, therefore, the finding of the Court that although the coroner did conduct a preliminary investigation, there was no indication that the investigation was required under any of the paragraphs of Sec. 10. Therefore, the claim by the coroner for his fee shall be denied.\u201d\n\u201c \u2018It is the trial court that observes and hears the witnesses and analyzes the testimony. It is not for a court of appeal to substitute its findings for those of the trial court unless such findings are clearly and palpably erroneous and against the manifest weight of the evidence.\u2019 \u201d Stark v. Stark (1971), 131 Ill. App. 2d 995, 997, 269 N.E.2d 107, 109.\nThe coroner argues that the two women died suddenly, but the records in these cases amply support the trial court\u2019s findings that none of the conditions cited in section 10(a) through (e) existed with respect to either decedent. Because these were not sudden deaths, the coroner had no authority under section 10(a) to conduct preliminary investigations. Both decedents were elderly women who suffered brain stem strokes and died in a hospital, under a medical doctor\u2019s care, three and four days later. The coroner in the two cases at bar therefore exceeded his authority by conducting preliminary investigations in situations other than those specified in section 10.\nThe coroner\u2019s preliminary investigations were not required and the statutory fee was properly denied. The trial court\u2019s factual findings to that effect were not against the manifest weight of the evidence, and its judgments are affirmed.\nAffirmed.\nGREEN, P. J., and WEBBER, J., concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "JUSTICE LONDRIGAN" } ], "attorneys": [ "Basil G. Greanias, State\u2019s Attorney, of Decatur, for appellant.", "Armstrong, Winters, Prince, Featherstun & Johnson, of Decatur (Roswell C. Prince and Donald E. Brilley, of counsel), for appellees." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "In re Estate of ANICE P. CAHILL, Deceased.\u2014(Chris Vallas, Coroner of Macon County, Claimant-Appellant, (4\u201482\u20140139) v. Daniel Cahill, Ex\u2019r of the Estate of Anice P. Cahill, Deceased, Respondent-Appellee.)\u2014In re Estate of THELMA D. SCHAUB, Deceased.\u2014(Chris Vallas, Coroner of Macon County, Claimant-Appellant, (4\u2014 82\u20140140) v. Frederick Schaub, Ex\u2019r of the Estate of Thelma D. Schaub, Deceased, Respondent-Appellee.)\nFourth District\nNos. 4\u201482\u20140139, 4\u201482\u20140140 cons.\nOpinion filed September 21, 1982.\nBasil G. Greanias, State\u2019s Attorney, of Decatur, for appellant.\nArmstrong, Winters, Prince, Featherstun & Johnson, of Decatur (Roswell C. Prince and Donald E. Brilley, of counsel), for appellees." }, "file_name": "0423-01", "first_page_order": 445, "last_page_order": 448 }