Title: Jones v. Industrial Com.
Citation: 399 N.E.2d 1314, 78 Ill. 2d 284
Docket Number: 51998
State: Illinois
Issuer: Illinois Supreme Court
Date: January 23, 1980

78 Ill. 2d 284 (1980)
399 N.E.2d 1314
DEAN P. JONES, Appellant,
v.
THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al. (Phoenix Closures, Inc., Appellee).
No. 51998.

Supreme Court of Illinois.
Opinion filed January 23, 1980.
*285 Beermann, Swerdlove, Woloshin &amp; Barezky and Jordan Teplitz, Ltd., both of Chicago (Miles N. Beermann and Howard A. London, of counsel), for appellant.
Richard W. Baum, of Burgeson, Laughlin, Cunningham &amp; Smith, of Chicago, for appellee.
Judgment affirmed.
MR. JUSTICE WARD delivered the opinion of the court:
Dean Jones filed a claim under the Workmen's Compensation Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 48, par. 138.1 et seq.) for injuries sutained on a parking lot provided for employees by Phoenix Closures, Inc. (Phoenix), his employer, when he accidentally closed a car door on his hand while alighting from his automobile. The arbitrator and the Industrial Commission denied an award and the circuit court of Cook County confirmed the Commission's decision. The claimant brought a direct appeal to this court under Rule 302(a). 73 Ill.2d R. 302(a).
The facts are not in dispute. The claimant, at the time of his injury, had been employed by Phoenix for two years. At about 3:45 p.m. on July 14, 1975, he arrived at the parking lot prepared to begin work at 4 o'clock. He parked his car and as he was leaving it he accidentally closed the door on his right hand. Upon reporting his *286 injury to his supervisor and a company nurse, he was sent to a hospital where X rays revealed a fracture of the fifth metacarpal of the right hand. The claimant was hospitalized for five days and required to wear a cast for two months. He returned to work on September 2, 1975.
This court has held that an accidental injury of an employee on an employer's parking lot within a reasonable time before or after work is sustained in the course of employment. (See, e.g., Aaron v. Industrial Com. (1974), 59 Ill. 2d 267, 269; De Hoyos v. Industrial Com. (1962), 26 Ill. 2d 110.) An injury, however, must also have arisen out of the employment to come within the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act. The question here was whether the injury arose out of the employment. In Chmelik v. Vana (1964), 31 Ill. 2d 272, the court discussed the nature of the term:
The injury sustained here was not causally connected with the claimant's employment. The possibility of slamming a car door on one's hand was not peculiar to the claimant's employment nor was it a risk to which he was exposed to a greater degree than the general public.
We conclude that the circuit court did not err in confirming the finding of the Commission. The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.