Drives, Inc. v. Industrial Commission

This appeal requires us to construe section 7(a) of the Workers’ Compensation Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 48, par. 138.7(a)). There is no controversy over the facts, and the case presents only issues of law.

The claimant, Janice Kay Den Besten Reitsema, was the child of Alfred Den Besten, who with his wife was killed in an airplane crash on September 23, 1977. There is no question of accident or employment. At the time of her father’s death, Janice was 21 years of age and enrolled as an undergraduate in her senior year in college; she was totally dependent upon her father for support.…