SIUE voluntarily dismissed from woman's sheet of ice injury suit

Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville has been dismissed from a personal injury suit refiled in Madison County.

Madison County Circuit Judge William Mudge on Aug. 20 granted a plaintiff motion to voluntarily dismiss the university from all counts in a suit filed by Joy and Gary Tedford.

Joy Tedford claims she was injured on Feb. 2, 2011, when a sheet of ice fell off the roof of the engineering building at SIUE. She filed a lawsuit on June 25, 2012 bringing negligence claims against several defendants. That suit was voluntarily dismissed in March 2013 and refiled a year later.

In the new suit, the Tedfords also have blamed FGM Architects-Engineers, which built the glass tower from which the ice fell, Branner Glass, which suppled the glass and Williams Brothers Construction, which designed the roof, saying they failed to install ice blocks or dams on the building, failed to install sufficient room between the building to sidewalk to prevent employees from being struck by falling ice and failed to install anything to reduce the danger of falling sheets of ice.

Gary Tedford has alleged loss of consortium.

On June 5, Mudge dismissed with prejudice loss of consortium claims pursuant to statute of limitations.

On June 18, Branner Glass answered the complaint saying the plaintiffs' claims are barred by the statute of repose, that it was the conduct of others that may have caused the plaintiff's injuries and that it owed no duty to plaintiff because it merely followed the plans and design instructions given to it by others.

The plaintiffs are represented by Randall P. Steele of the Steele Law Offices in Glen Carbon and William Meacham of Edwardsville.

SIUE is represented by its general counsel Phyleccia Reed-Cole.

Branner Glass is represented by John Cunningham of Brown and James in Belleville.

FGM Architects Inc. is represented by Philip J. Christofferson and Steven M.Cockriel of Cockriel & Christofferson LLC in St. Louis.

Williams Brothers Construction is represented by William Knapp of Knapp, Ohl and Green in Edwardsville.

Madison County case number 14-L-477