EAST ST. LOUIS – Eighteen months after Schnucks removed a slip and fall suit from Madison County to U.S. district court, plaintiff Elizabeth Jackson seeks to return to Madison County.
Her lawyer Ellen Burford of Granite City moved to remand the suit on Sept. 16, claiming addition of an Illinois defendant defeats federal jurisdiction.
“There is not complete diversity of citizenship between the plaintiff and defendants in this case and as such, this court lacks jurisdiction,” Burford wrote.
She attached a record of the Secretary of State for Kirby Distributing, an Illinois corporation she added by amending the complaint in August.
The current complaint alleges that Kirby was engaged to inspect, clean and repair refrigerators at Schnucks in Granite City.
It alleges Kirby allowed liquid to accumulate in front of refrigerators.
It alleges Kirby failed to repair the system, alert customers, or notify Schnucks.
Jackson filed the suit in Madison County in December 2018, naming Schnucks as sole defendant.
Schnucks removed it in March 2019, asserting diversity jurisdiction as a Missouri corporation.
Jackson added Dr. Pepper as defendant by amendment last October.
She added distributor American Bottling as defendant by amendment this March, and deleted allegations against Dr. Pepper.
She claimed American Bottling allowed liquid to accumulate and failed to repair the system, alert customers, or notify Schnucks.
In April, Schnucks filed a cross claim against American Bottling.
American Bottling counsel James Maschhoff of Clayton, Mo. moved to dismiss Jackson’s complaint, claiming she made unsupported conclusions.
He claimed she didn’t allege that the refrigerator was defective or leaking or that American Bottling knew at any time it was leaking.
Magistrate Judge Mark Beatty denied the motion in June, finding an inference that American Bottling knew about problems with the refrigerator.
He found Jackson presented enough details to present a plausible story.
Bryce Pfalzgraf and Beth Veath, of Brown and James in Belleville, represent Schnucks.