Madison County circuit judges have roughly 181 motion hearings scheduled on the civil docket this week, with nearly all of those cases scheduled on a 9 a.m. Wednesday docket.
Circuit Judge Barbara Crowder will preside over the majority; she has 86 cases scheduled for Wednesday morning and one case on Friday.
Circuit Judge Dennis Ruth has 62 cases scheduled for Wednesday morning and one case scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
Circuit Judge William Mudge has 53 cases scheduled for Wednesday morning and two cases scheduled for Thursday.
Circuit Judge Stephen Stobbs has one case scheduled for Thursday. His case is a wrongful death suit.
In the case before Stobbs, plaintiff Mark Flieger claims his mother was living at Rosewood Care Center of Alton when she fell trying to get out of her bed in an attempt to use the bathroom. Following her fall, she was in and out of the hospital. She died roughly one month later after allegedly developing a blood infection from her bodily waste. (12-L-1426)
Most of the cases being heard are recent cases filed this year, but they go as far back as 2001.
- 2015: 63 cases scheduled
- 2014: 58 cases scheduled
- 2013: 29 cases scheduled
- 2012: 20 cases scheduled
- 2011: six cases scheduled
- 2010: one case scheduled
- 2009: two cases scheduled
- 2008: one case scheduled
- 2001: one case scheduled
Details of the complaint from 2001 were not available, but the case is a class action filed against Marion Bass Securities in March 2001. Crowder will preside over that case Wednesday morning. (01-L-457)
The 2008 case is a benzene case alleging Joseph Kavich developed myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in August 2006 as a result of benzene exposure. He later died from his injuries in July 2007 (08-L-242).
One of the cases from 2009 is a personal injury case resulting from a traffic accident (09-L-1057).
The second complaint from 2009 is a case alleging fraud (09-L-1079). Plaintiffs Tarunkumar and Kantibhai Patel claim they purchased stock and a portion of a Godfrey convenience store from defendants Ghanshyam Management, Popatial Patel and Gita Patel. However, the defendants allegedly failed to transfer to stocks to the plaintiffs. The defendants also allegedly sold the store to a third party soon after the plaintiffs began operating the store.
Also in court this week is a woman’s 2013 sexual assault lawsuit alleging a supermarket employee took photos and videos of her while she was using the restroom of the establishment (13-L-683), and a man’s 2014 lawsuit alleging his son was attacked by a rescue Dachshund dog (14-L-1029), among other personal injury and liability lawsuits.
A closer look at the cases in court this week reveals that most of the cases are personal injury lawsuits resulting from traffic accidents. Here is a breakdown of the types of cases with scheduled hearings:
- Traffic Accidents: 56 cases
- Personal Injury: 31 cases
- Product Liability: three cases
- Liability: 15 cases
- Dram Shop: four cases
- Medical Malpractice: 13 cases
- Fraud: three cases
- Wrongful Death: six cases
- Assault: three cases
- Breach of Contract: six cases
- Retaliatory Discharge: eight cases
- Defamation: two cases
- Discrimination: one case
- Property Damage: one case
- Sexual Harassment: one case
- Estate Dispute: one case
- Insurance: one case
- Legal malpractice: one case
- Class action: the one case from 2001
Details for 20 cases are unavailable.