Halberstadt v. Harris Tr. & Sav. Bank

Plaintiff, Violet Halberstadt, as the widow of Gerald Halberstadt, filed a second amended complaint in the circuit court of Cook County charging defendants Harris Trust & Savings Bank (building owner), N.W. Harris Corporation (building manager), and Robert Van Nest (management employee) with violations of the Structural Work Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1965, ch. 48, par. 60 et seq.) which she alleged proximately caused her husband's death when he fell from a commercial office building while washing windows on July 22, 1965. The circuit court granted defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint, ruling that deceased's occupation was not within those afforded protection by this statute. The appellate court reversed and remanded, holding that the complaint was properly filed and that deceased was within the occupational category protected by the statute. (Halberstadt v. Harris Trust & Savings Bank (1972), 7 Ill. App.3d 991.) We granted leave to appeal. Defendants argue that the second amended complaint (filed April 30, 1971) superseded prior pleadings and, invoking the Structural Work Act in this complaint almost six years after deceased's accident, is for that reason barred by limitations. The facts relevant to this contention are as follows. On July 18, 1966, a two-count complaint was filed against Harris Trust & Savings Bank by Violet Halberstadt in her capacity individually, as administrator of the deceased's estate, and as the mother and next friend of their six minor children. The first count charged defendant with violations of the Structural Work Act in that it failed to provide deceased with a safe scaffold during his work, thereby necessitating deceased's use of flanged hooks affixed to the building as his sole means of support. These hooks were alleged to have been corroded and paint encrusted. The second count, as now characterized by defendants, charged a violation of the Injuries Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1965, ch. 70, par. 1 et seq.) and sought damages for loss of means of support.