Maag wants to depose Shashek over affidavit

EAST ST. LOUIS – Thomas Maag of Edwardsville, pressing U.S. District Judge David Herndon to remand a personal injury suit to Madison County, accuses the defense of crafting a crooked affidavit.

Maag, representing Tennessee mechanic John Sheffer, moved on Jan. 13 to depose Lisa Shashek about an affidavit she signed as a director of Marysville Releasing Inc.

Shashek swore that Marysville Releasing did not make the tools or equipment at issue in Sheffer's suit against Georgia trailer maker Cottrell and local businesses of the Cassens family including Marysville Releasing.

"It is plaintiff's position that not only is this assertion by Shashek/Cottrell false, but that it is believed that Shashek would not even be in a position to know whether it is true, or not, and it is exceedingly likely that the assertions of Shashek, in her affidavit, are based upon either what someone told her, what she read, or she was simply given a blank affidavit to sign that she did not even read," Maag wrote.

Benjamin Powell of Edwardsville opposed the deposition on Jan. 16, writing that Maag failed to present any evidence in support of his assertion.

Sheffer, a Cassens Transport mechanic, claims he injured his head, neck and shoulders while trying to release a wheel from a Cottrell rig in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Cottrell removed the suit to federal court in November.

Amy Lorenz-Moser of St. Louis argued for Cottrell that Sheffer fraudulently joined Cassens businesses to the suit in order to defeat federal jurisdiction.

"Cassens and Sons did not own or lease the rig at issue, and did not distribute or place the rig in the stream of commerce," she wrote.

"The other allegations against Cassens and Sons are untrue or do not give rise to a cause of action under the applicable law," she wrote.

She submitted Shashek's affidavit in support of removal.

Maag moved to remand and he attacked the affidavit.

The remand motion remains pending before Herndon.

Sheffer also seeks damages from truck maker Navistar, wheel maker Fontaine Fifth Wheel, and the truck's current and past owners.