BELLEVILLE – Tom Keefe moved to substitute Circuit Judge William Stiehl from an injury suit against Ford Motor Company and Auffenberg Ford South on Feb. 14.
Any party in an Illinois court can substitute a judge once without cause if the judge hasn’t made a substantial ruling.
Keefe sued Ford and Auffenberg for Tikki Weatherly in November, claiming failure of an air bag resulted in brain damage to her son Jermaine S. Bell Jr.
Keefe claims Bell operated Weatherly’s 2007 Ford Fusion on Goelz Drive in East St. Louis on June 11, 2020.
He claims Bell “lost control of the vehicle and struck a tree.”
He claims the Fusion was defective and dangerous when Ford designed, manufactured, and sold it.
He claims Auffenberg negligently repaired the bag on April 14, 2020.
Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson assigned Stiehl on Dec. 28.
Ford counsel Edward Fu of Chicago answered the complaint on Jan. 10, claiming Bell misused or abused the Fusion.
Bell “operated the vehicle at such excessive speeds so as to cause him to lose control of the vehicle,” Fu wrote.
Fu claims Bell failed to use available occupant restraints, and claims the vehicle was substantially modified, altered or repaired since it left Ford’s control.
As of Feb. 18, Auffenberg hadn’t answered and Stiehl hadn’t granted substitution.