MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

A woman has filed suit against her father, alleging he caused her to slide into a severe depression and multiple bouts of alcoholism.

Lisa A. Welch, who is 42 years old, claims she suffered from depression and alcoholism from 2008 through 2012 due to her father’s mental and emotional abuse of her during her childhood.

At 18 years old, Welch ran away from her father’s home, but later reconciled with him, the lawsuit claims. By May of 2000, Welch and Zimmerman’s relationship was so smooth that Welch and her husband agreed to purchase property at 332 Tremont Dr. in Godfrey from Zimmerman, according to the complaint filed Oct. 4 in Madison County Circuit Court.

In October of 2007, Welch and Zimmerman entered into a contract for deed for the property, the suit states.

Welch entered into her first round of alcoholism after her paternal grandmother died, the complaint says. Twice in 2010 and 2011 , Welch tried to attempt suicide, then decided to confront her father about her upbringing, she claims.

Following Welch’s confrontation and in an attempt to retaliate against her, her father demanded that she and her husband obtain traditional financing to purchase his home, according to the complaint.

“The defendant’s demand inflicted severe emotional distress upon the plaintiff because she and her husband did not have strong enough credit to secure such financing,” the suit states.

Because of her inability to secure financing, Welch and her husband decided to leave her father’s property in April 2011, the complaint says. In turn, Welch says her alcoholism grew worse, the suit states.

Zimmerman later sued Welch for more than $180,000, claiming breach of contract, according to the complaint.

“Within days of filing of the aforementioned complaint, the plaintiff had to again be admitted into an alcohol rehabilitation program because her alcoholism had become uncontrollable,” the suit states. “The defendant knew of his daughter’s, the plaintiff’s, fragile mental and physical state throughout this process yet opted to take the extreme and insidious action of reclaiming the plaintiff’s home, petitioning for an order of protection against her, and filing a suit alleging damages in excess of $180,000, all with the intent of inflicting severe emotional distress upon the plaintiff.”

In her complaint, Welch is seeking a judgment of more than $50,000, plus costs and other relief the court deems just.

Barbara L. Sherer of Sherer Law Offices in Edwardsville will be representing her.

Madison County Circuit Court case number: 13-L-1678.