A former Granite City High School student seeks default judgment against a fellow classmate accused of attacking him in the school gymnasium, arguing that the defendant has failed to enter his appearance nearly two years after the complaint was filed.
Plaintiff Austin Gilmore filed a motion for default judgment on June 21 through attorney Ryan Mahoney of Cates Mahoney LLC in Swansea.
Mahoney argues that the complaint was filed Aug. 23, 2019, and defendant Tyler Frizzell was served on Sept. 19, 2019. However, he has failed to file an answer or other responsive pleading to the complaint since then.
“The time for filing a responsive pleading to plaintiff’s complaint has now expired, and defendant Frizzell has failed to respond within the time allotted by the Illinois Supreme Court Rules,” Mahoney wrote.
“Accordingly, defendant Frizzell was and is in default, and plaintiff is entitled to judgment on the pleadings as a matter of law,” he added.
Gilmore filed the complaint against Frizzell, Granite City Community School District Unit #9 and teacher Brad Hasquin. He claims Frizzell, who is also a former student, “violently” threw him down onto a hardwood basketball court, causing him to suffer a broken collarbone and ligament damage to his shoulder.
Gilmore accused the school district for willful and wanton misconduct for allegedly failing to supervise the students. He claims the district and Hasquin should have known Frizzell was a safety risk as he allegedly had a “history of committing violent acts towards other students.”
The school district and Hasquin filed a motion to dismiss on Oct. 11, 2019, through attorneys at Knapp, Ohl & Green in Edwardsville. The defendants argued that they are entitled to immunity under the Tort Immunity Act. They claim they cannot be held liable for the actions of the student.
They also argued that the appellate courts have previously held that there is no specific mandatory action a school has to take when exercising discipline.
Hasquin and the district argued that there is no factual support for willful and wanton conduct. A failure to maintain surveillance of Frizzell does not amount to utter indifference, the motion stated.
Former Madison County Chief Judge David Hylla denied the motion to dismiss on Nov. 14, 2019. The case was assigned to Madison County Circuit Judge Sarah Smith following Hylla’s retirement.
On July 8, 2020, Smith ordered the Granite City Police Department produce the complete unredacted incident report and directed the parties not to share, release or disseminate any of the information contained in the report.
Then on Aug. 12, 2020, Smith ordered the school district to release Frizzell’s entire academic record, including transcripts, discipline records and health information. The information is available only to the parties in the case after “having considered the discovery needs in the case, the issues at stake in this litigation, and the information likely contained in the student records of defendant Frizzell.”
Madison County Circuit Court case number 19-L-1194