Haunted house plaintiffs scheduled for depositions

Madison County Circuit Judge William Mudge set a motion hearing Aug. 9 in a girl’s lawsuit over injuries she allegedly sustained from a tour at an Alton haunted house.

Defense attorneys Charles Anderson and James Craney on July 24 filed a certificate of service, indicating a notice of deposition of plaintiffs Alexis Brook Gansz and Terry Ganz had been served to all attorneys involved in the lawsuit.

Craney represents American Legion Post 126 in Alton in a lawsuit filed by Terry Ganz on behalf of his daughter, Alexis Brook.

In the lawsuit, the injured girl’s father, Terry Gansz, claims his daughter had been chased by an employee of the haunted house with a motor driven chainsaw in a dimly lit area, containing trip hazards, illuminated by a distracting strobe light, resulting in her tripping and falling on Oct. 29, 2011.

Gansz’s lawsuit also named American Legion Post 126, Steven Haug and Dennis Sharp as defendants.

Gansz stated,“the proximate cause of her fall and injury were a combination of conditions and activities which rendered the hazard decidedly neither open nor obvious” – in his response to defendant American Legion’s motion to dismiss.

He filed his response to the motion to dismiss April 29 through his attorney J. Robert Edmonds of Edwardsville.

Defendant American Legion had asserted the plaintiff’s claims should be dismissed because “as a matter of law, the conditions alleged were open and obvious.”

Michael Murphy of Freeark, Harvey & Mendillo in Belleville represents defendant Dennis Sharp.

Belleville attorney Charles Pierce represents the City of Alton.

Alex J. Cornwell and Dayna L. Johnson of Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale represent Steven Haug.

J. Robert Edmonds in Edwardsville represents the plaintiff.

Madison County case number 12-L-1756.