A glass company being blamed for injuries suffered by a woman who was struck in the head by a sheet of ice that fell from the engineering building at SIUE in 2011, will argue its motion for summary judgment Dec. 18 in Madison County Circuit Judge William Mudge's court.
Branner Glass, one of several defendants in a suit brought by Joy and Gary Tedford, will argue that plaintiffs' claims are barred by a statute of repose because the alleged injury occurred more than 10 years after it completed its work on the relevant portions of the engineering building.
It further will argue that the only work it completed relevant to the plaintiffs' complaint was on sloped portions of the roof - and had nothing to do with the design or construction of the sidewalks or walkways adjacent to the building where Joy Tedford claims she was hurt.
Branner Glass, represented by John Cunningham of Belleville, also states in its Dec. 1 motion for summary judgment that it performed its work in adherence to the designs and specifications of co-defendant FGM Architects-Engineers.
"The time for conducting discovery has passed, and the documents and information disclosed by the parties to this lawsuit demonstrate that defendant Branner Glass completed all relevant construction on the Engineering Building more than ten years before plaintiff's injury in February of 2011," Cunningham wrote.
Joy Tedford initially sued in 2012. The case 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.
SIUE was dismissed as defendant in August.
Gary Tedford alleged loss of consortium. In June, Mudge dismissed with prejudice loss of consortium claims pursuant to statute of limitations.
The plaintiffs are represented by Randall P. Steele of the Steele Law Offices in Glen Carbon and William Meacham of Edwardsville.
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
Personal injury defendant will argue statute of repose in summary judgment hearing
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