{
  "id": 381849,
  "name": "ERIC M.V. STILP, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MID STATES CORPORATION CONVEYING AND FABRICATING SPECIALISTS, Indiv. and d/b/a Mid States Corporation, Defendant-Appellee",
  "name_abbreviation": "Stilp v. Mid States Corp. Conveying & Fabricating Specialists",
  "decision_date": "1994-12-08",
  "docket_number": "No. 1\u201493\u20143354",
  "first_page": "265",
  "last_page": "267",
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  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.",
    "id": 8837,
    "name": "Illinois Appellate Court"
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    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
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      "reporter": "Ill. App. 2d",
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T18:15:47.504806+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "ERIC M.V. STILP, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MID STATES CORPORATION CONVEYING AND FABRICATING SPECIALISTS, Indiv. and d/b/a Mid States Corporation, Defendant-Appellee."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "JUSTICE CAHILL\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nThe issue framed by this appeal is whether the filing of a worker\u2019s compensation claim by a minor\u2019s father as \"father and next friend\u201d amounts to the act of a legal representative under section 5(a) of the Workers\u2019 Compensation Act (820 ILCS 305/5(a) (West 1992)). We hold that it does and reverse the trial court\u2019s order dismissing plaintiff\u2019s cause of action.\nPlaintiff, Eric Stilp, injured his hand on June 22, 1990, while working at defendant\u2019s factory. He was 15 years old.\nMichael Stilp, as the father and next friend of Eric Stilp, filed a worker\u2019s compensation claim on Eric\u2019s behalf with the Illinois Industrial Commission on September 11, 1992. Eric Stilp turned 18 on September 19, 1992. He personally filed a rejection of worker\u2019s compensation benefits on January 15, 1993, under section 5(a) of the Workers\u2019 Compensation Act (Act) (820 ILCS 305/5(a) (West 1992)). That section provides:\n\"Any illegally employed minor or his legal representatives shall, except as hereinafter provided, have the right within 6 months after the time of injury or death, or within 6 months after the appointment of a legal representative, whichever shall be later, to file with the Commission a rejection of his right to the benefits under this Act, in which case such illegally employed minor or his legal representative shall have the right to pursue his or their common law or statutory remedies to recover damages for such injury or death.\u201d 820 ILCS 305/5(a) (West 1992).\nPlaintiff filed this civil action on January 19, 1993. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss under section 2\u2014619 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2\u2014619 (West 1992)), claiming that plaintiff failed to file a timely rejection of his rights under section 5(a) of the Act and so waived his right to file a civil action. The court granted defendant\u2019s motion to dismiss and stated:\n\"I will grant the motion based on the fact that I can\u2019t find a clear representation of a legal representative. It wasn\u2019t filed six months from the date of legal representative or six months from the date of the injury. I will make that ruling specific, and that is what the statute says.\u201d\nPlaintiff argues on appeal that the trial court erred when it ruled there was no appointment of a legal representative. Plaintiff contends that Michael Stilp became Eric Stilp\u2019s legal representative when he filed the worker\u2019s compensation claim as Eric Stilp\u2019s father and next friend on September 11, 1992. We agree. One who represents the interests of a minor child in litigation is a legal representative.\nDefendant argues \"[i]f a representative was appointed then the appointment must have occurred on or prior to April 3, 1992,\u201d the date Michael Stilp authorized and then signed the worker\u2019s compensation claim in his lawyer\u2019s office, rather than the date it was filed. We find no merit to this argument. Defendant offers no case law to support it. A legal representative means the official representative of a minor. (See Dillon v. Nathan (1956), 10 Ill. App. 2d 289, 135 N.E.2d 136, cited in People ex rel. Illinois State Police v. Hamm (1978), 58 Ill. App. 3d 177, 180, 374 N.E.2d 15.) Michael Stilp\u2019s role as a legal representative of Eric Stilp took effect when he filed the worker\u2019s compensation claim with the Industrial Commission on September 11, 1992, naming himself as \"father and next friend\u201d in the pleading. Plaintiff filed a rejection of benefits within six months of this date and so preserved his right to pursue common law and statutory remedies under section 5(a) of the Act.\nReversed and remanded.\nHOFFMAN, P.J., and THEIS, J., concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "JUSTICE CAHILL"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "John L. Drumm, of Law Offices of John L. Drumm, of Chicago, for appellant.",
      "D. William Porter and Scott A. Labow, both of Stevenson, Rusin & Friedman, Ltd., of Chicago, for appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "ERIC M.V. STILP, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MID STATES CORPORATION CONVEYING AND FABRICATING SPECIALISTS, Indiv. and d/b/a Mid States Corporation, Defendant-Appellee.\nFirst District (4th Division)\nNo. 1\u201493\u20143354\nOpinion filed December 8, 1994.\nJohn L. Drumm, of Law Offices of John L. Drumm, of Chicago, for appellant.\nD. William Porter and Scott A. Labow, both of Stevenson, Rusin & Friedman, Ltd., of Chicago, for appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0265-01",
  "first_page_order": 283,
  "last_page_order": 285
}