A man who suffered severe leg injuries after a dump truck driver ran him over, entangling his legs in the springs, settled the case for an undisclosed amount with the defendants over the weekend.
Plaintiff William “Mark” Smith, a Baptist pastor in Missouri, is represented by Eric J. Carlson of Byron, Carlson, Petri and Kalb of Edwardsville.
Defendant Kilian Corp., represented by David Simkins of Wuestling and James in St. Louis, was the only remaining defendant at trial.
Closing statements and jury deliberations were expected to take place on Monday morning in Madison County Circuit Judge Dennis Ruth’s courtroom.
Smith testified on Friday that he had been working for Quality Testing and Engineering since April 2001, where he performed asphalt density tests at construction sites. On June 7, 2013, Smith was working near freshly poured asphalt at the intersection of Lakeview Acres and Illinois State Route 162 in Maryville when he was hit by a dump truck, entangling his legs in the truck’s spring and pinning him beneath the dump truck.
Kilian has denied liability for the incident. However, less than a week before trial got started, Ruth entered a scalding order striking Kilian’s answers and affirmative defenses, with the exception of its denial of willful and wanton conduct.
Ruth concluded that Kilian and Simkins concealed facts during discovery as it related to a former company safety officer and a safety manual.
In a 10-page order entered Aug. 5, Ruth wrote that the plaintiff had been prejudiced in his “ability to investigate, develop, and otherwise pursue his case against Kilian.”
“Kilian’s compliance with the rules of discovery in the instant matter has been, at best, grossly negligent, and at worst, downright deceitful,” Ruth wrote. “It’s fractional disclosure is equivalent to outright lying.”