Callis
The Fifth District Appellate Court has received notice that an Alton man who won more than $1 million in a personal injury suit last year is appealing the partial summary judgment granted to Allstate Insurance Company in a resulting lawsuit.
Plaintiff Steven Kirk has appealed the partial summary judgment Allstate won in a case he filed as assignee for Enver Hamiti.
Kirk originally sued Hamiti in 2007 for injuries Kirk suffered including the loss of his right foot when Hamiti ran an Alton stop sign.
Kirk won last year's trial, taking home more than $1 million in damages.
He then filed suit against Allstate claiming that the insurance company settled with him without protecting its client, Hamiti in the case of the verdict against him.
Kirk also sued Hamiti's other insurer, Mercury Insurance Company, for allegedly coaching a witness to lie on the stand at the Hamiti suit's trial.
That lawsuit settled for an undisclosed amount.
Allstate moved for partial summary judgment in Kirk's suit, claiming that it did protect Hamiti to the tune of $100,000 as set forth in his policy with the insurer.
Madison County Associate Judge Clarence Harrison II signed the order granting the partial summary judgment Nov. 12.
Kirk argued that the settlement release did not include Hamiti and therefore didn't protect him sufficiently.
Harrison found that Allstate could not be held liable for failing to protect Hamiti in the settlement because Kirk's attorneys initiated the release in question.
Harrison stood in for Madison County Chief Judge Ann Callis who has overseen the case because she was helming an on-going trial at the time of the Nov. 12 hearing.
The appellate court received the notice of appeal Dec. 1 and the appeal is due Jan. 31, 2011.
Chris Kolker represents Kirk.
Michael Bedesky represents Allstate.
The underlying suit Kirk filed against Hamiti is Madison case number 07-L-165.
Madison County Circuit Judge David Hylla oversaw that case and its trial last year.
Callis oversaw the resulting lawsuit against Mercury until its settlement.
The Mercury case is case number 10-L-010.
Callis has made rulings in the Allstate case. It was previously assigned to Madison County Circuit Judge Barbara Crowder and former Madison County Circuit Judge Daniel Stack.
The Allstate case is case number 10-L-050.