Class action king drops one of 22 suits

Granite City chiropractor Mark Eavenson, favorite class action plaintiff of the Lakin Law Firm, has dropped one of his suits like a hot potato.

Eavenson and chiropractor Andrew Morningstar on Aug. 25 voluntarily dismissed a claim that insurer AIG improperly reduced payouts for treatments of accident victims.

Richard Burke of the Lakin firm wrote that Eavenson and Morningstar dismissed "…without receipt of any payment or other compensation from Defendants…"

Burke wrote that dismissal was not part of any compromise or settlement.

The Lakin firm filed the suit in 2002, with Morningstar as plaintiff. Later the Lakin firm amended the complaint and put Eavenson ahead of Morningstar.

The plaintiffs pulled the plug less than a month before a scheduled hearing on their motion to certify a class action against AIG.

Madison County Circuit Judge Don Weber had set a hearing Sept. 21, but he can scratch that from his calendar.

One bit of business remains unfinished.

Weeks ago, as AIG attorneys prepared for the hearing, they filed a brief under seal.

Weber signed an order Aug. 18, to unseal the brief and place it in the public record. He gave both sides a week to take exception to the order.

AIG took exception to the unsealing of two documents attached to the brief.

Before the file goes to a shelf of terminated cases, Weber must decide whether to unseal the two attachments that AIG wants to protect. He has set a hearing Sept. 7.

Eavenson has filed more class action suits in Madison County than anyone else. At his peak in 2003, he filed 22 suits in 34 days.