MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

A hearing on summary judgment and other motions in a battery case filed against a Granite City women's clinic is now set for May.

The parties in the case brought by plaintiff Brandy Hildreth asked Madison County Circuit Judge David Hylla to move the hearing to May 20 from its set date of April 18.

Hildreth is suing the Hope Clinic for Women, a number of its staff members, Dr. Lisa Memmel and the University of Chicago Medical Center, for injuries she allegedly suffered upon seeking an abortion at the clinic in February 2008.

Hildreth claims to have suffered severe emotional distress and alleges she was misled about who would perform the operation and what their qualifications were.

The defendants deny the claims.

Memmel and the other defendants have moved for summary judgment contending that Memmel clearly introduced herself as the doctor performing the procedure and that Hildreth consented to her performing it.

The defendants have also filed a counterclaim against Dr. Mark Wassermann who treated Hildreth before and after the abortion.

They claim that Wassermann wrongly told Hildreth that the clinic did not perform the abortion correctly and that its staff left parts of the fetus inside of the plaintiff.

The summary judgment hearing has been pushed off several times this year.

Hylla's April 15 order moving the hearing to May states that the parties are to submit briefs by May 9 with courtesy copies provided for the court.

Rhonda Fiss represents Hildreth.

Mark Levy represents the clinic and staffers Sally Burgess, staffers Clara Dixon, Debra Weihardt, Anne Baker, Denise Caldwell, Dr. Allen Palmer, and Dr. Melissa Gilliam.

John Leskera represents Memmel and the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The case is Madison case number 08-L-343.