EDWARDSVILLE — Defendants in a Madison County woman's lawsuit over injuries she allegedly suffered in an Alton department store freight elevator in late 2017 aren't commenting about the case.
"In response to your inquiry, JCPenney does not comment on pending litigation," a spokeswoman for J.C. Penney Company, Inc., said in an email to the Record.
J.C. Penney, included as a defendant in the lawsuit as "J.C. Penney Corporation, Inc., is one of two named defendants in the personal injury lawsuit filed Dec. 19 in Madison County circuit court by plaintiff Mary Crane of Bethalto.
The other defendant, Schindler Elevator Corporation, did not respond to a request for comment.
In her four page lawsuit, Crane claimed she was injured in a freight elevator at the J.C. Penney location at Alton Square Mall in late December 2017.
Crane claims that she'd purchased two large comforters and that "a JC Penney employee offered to assist the plaintiff with her large purchase by taking her to the freight elevator for easier access to her vehicle," her lawsuit said.
As she was standing in the freight elevator, "the top door of the elevator came down and stuck the plaintiff," the lawsuit said.
Crane alleges, among other things, that she'd been escorted "into an unsafe freight elevator" and that "the freight elevator was negligently and defectively designed, manufactured and/or maintained."
Crane claims she suffered "permanent personal injury, has endured and will continue to endure, pain, suffering and a loss of normal life; and has incurred and will continue to incur, medical expenses in an effort to be cured of said injuries and has lost wages which could have otherwise been earned."
Crane is asking for "an amount in excess of $50,000" for each of two counts in the lawsuit, one against each defendant.
Crane is represented by attorney Mark D. Prince, of the Prince Law Firm in Marion.
Madison County Circuit Court Case number 2019-L-001808