Same suit against Auto Handling Corp. in St. Clair also filed in Madison

A day after a couple sued Auto Handling Corporation in St. Clair County over injuries the man sustained after falling on a rig, they filed the same suit in Madison County.

According to the newer complaint filed July 9 in Madison County, Darrell Frits was working as a carhauler for Jack Cooper Transport Company on Aug. 14, 2012, and was maneuvering on the upper deck of a rig that Auto Handling Corporation owned. He claims that while doing so, he suddenly fell from the deck.

The same complaint was filed on July 8 in St. Clair County.

Because of his fall, Darrell sustained pain and mental anguish, endured disfigurement, incurred medical costs and lost wages, the suit states. His wife, Vickie Frits, has been deprived of her husband’s support and services, the complaint says.

Auto Handling Corporation negligently failed to review and analyze available injury and testing data, failed to adequately test the rigs to determine that the upper decks were safe and failed to repair the tractor and install handrails, the complaint says.

The Frits are seeking a judgment of more than $100,000, plus costs. They are being represented by attorneys Brian M. Wendler and Ellen R. Burford of Wendler Law in Edwardsville and Charles W. Armbruster and Michael T. Blotevogel in Armbruster, Dripps, Winterscheidt and Blotevogel in Alton.

Madison County Circuit Court case number 14-L-964.