{
  "id": 5321118,
  "name": "In Re Application of Melba Jean Thomas",
  "name_abbreviation": "In re Thomas",
  "decision_date": "1978-09-12",
  "docket_number": "Case No. 00160",
  "first_page": "1060",
  "last_page": "1061",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "32 Ill. Ct. Cl. 1060"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill. Ct. Cl.",
    "id": 8793,
    "name": "Illinois Court of Claims"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 29,
    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
  },
  "cites_to": [],
  "analysis": {
    "cardinality": 185,
    "char_count": 2230,
    "ocr_confidence": 0.803,
    "sha256": "5663e40e8c0f234897f17bcc95ba52212fa9113f187dbeecbaf8271faae9e8d6",
    "simhash": "1:907556bc623033a4",
    "word_count": 364
  },
  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T16:54:10.322906+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "In Re Application of Melba Jean Thomas."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Per Curiam.\nThis claim allegedly arising out of the death of a correctional officer killed in the line of duty, seeks payment of compensation to the decedent\u2019s beneficiary pursuant to the provisions of the \u201cLaw Enforcement Officers and Firemen Compensation Act,\u201d (hereafter, the Act), Ill. Rev. Stat., Ch. 48, Sec. 281, et seq., 1977.\nThe Court has carefully considered the application for benefits submitted on the form prescribed and furnished by the Attorney General; a written statement of the decedent\u2019s supervising officer; and a report by the Illinois Attorney General\u2019s office which substantiates matters set forth in the application. Based upon these documents and other evidence submitted, the Court finds that:\n1. The Claimant, Melba Jean Thomas, widow of the decedent, and in the absence of a designation of beneficiary, is the person entitled to the duty death benefits as provided by the Act;\n2. The decedent, William N. Thomas, age 49, was employed as a Correctional Officer, by the Pontiac Correctional Center, Department of Corrections, State of Illinois, and engaged in the active performance of his duties, within the meaning of Section 2(e) of the Act, on July 22, 1978;\n3. On said date, at approximately 9:30 a.m., Officer Thomas, during regularly assigned duty hours, was stabbed to death during a riot by prison inmates at the Pontiac Correctional Center. The coroner\u2019s certificate of death recites the immediate cause of death as \u201cpuncture wound of apex of left ventricle of heart,\u201d with approximate interval between onset and death of \u201cminutes.\u201d The coroner\u2019s certificate also recites death by \u201chomocide,\u201d with Thomas having been attacked and stabbed by \u201cunknown person(s);\u201d\n4. Correctional Officer Thomas was killed in the line of duty as defined, and required by, Sections 2(a) and 2(e) of the Act;\n5. The proof submitted in support of this claim satisfies all of the requirements of the Act and the claim is therefore compensable thereunder.\nIt is hereby ordered, by reason of the foregoing, that the sum of $20,000.00 be paid to Melba Jean Thomas, widow of the deceased correctional officer, William N. Thomas.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Per Curiam."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "(Case No. 00160\nIn Re Application of Melba Jean Thomas.\nOpinion filed September 12, 1978."
  },
  "file_name": "1060-01",
  "first_page_order": 1174,
  "last_page_order": 1175
}