The City of Granite City seeks to continue a November trial setting in a sidewalk trip and fall case.
Represented by Jane Unsell of Wood River, the city has denied negligence in a lawsuit brought in 2014 by Wanda L. Carmack and Donald Carmack.
The couple claims that Wanda was walking on a sidewalk at O’Hare and Erin streets which had been covered in grass and hid an elevation difference between slabs of more than two inches. She accuses the city of allowing grass to grow which hid the difference in elevation, failing to eliminate the height differences, ignoring prior complaints about the condition of the sidewalk and failing to mark the area with signs warning pedestrians.
In response, the city claims that it is immune from liability under the Illinois Tort Immunity Act. It further claims that Wanda Carmack was not wearing proper shoes at the time of the incident, and that her own negligence contributed to the trip and fall.
The Carmacks are seeking damages in excess of $50,000, plus costs. They are represented by East Alton attorney Gregory M. Tobin of Pratt & Tobin.
The defense motion to continue will be argued before Madison County Circuit Judge Barbara Crowder at 9 a.m. on Aug. 5.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 14-L-878.