EDWARDSVILLE – A summary judgment request is pending in Sara Staack’s injury suit against the estate of asbestos lawyer Randy Gori and the case file lacks any evidence that she knows it.
No one lives where Circuit Judge Christopher Threlkeld directed the estate to serve a summary judgment motion on Staack after her lawyer withdrew.
No one has lived there since last fall when a storm ripped the roof off.
As of May 12, the case docket didn’t reflect successful service of the motion at any address.
Staack sued the estate in 2020, six months after Timothy Banowetz murdered Gori.
Her counsel Keith Short of Alton claimed she was an invitee on Gori’s property on Sept. 19, 2019, “walking around decedent’s infinity pool on a concrete walkway.”
He claimed she fell from a ledge about six feet and landed in a pond, injuring her head, chin, arms and legs.
He claimed Gori failed to install guards, lacked proper markings to indicate a change in height, and lacked proper lighting.
He added that Gori’s alleged negligence resulted in surgery.
In 2021, Short moved to substitute Lanny Darr of Alton as Staack’s counsel, and Threlkeld granted it.
For a year Threlkeld held conferences and continued them.
Last October, he set a conference for this Jan. 25 to schedule a trial date and a discovery cutoff.
A day before the conference, Darr moved to withdraw as Staack’s counsel.
He stated the relationship was no longer viable.
Threlkeld held the conference and stated he’d continue all matters until the withdrawal motion was argued on ruled on.
On Jan. 27, Darr posted notice that his motion would come to a hearing in March.
On Feb. 28, the court clerk posted a copy of an envelope that Darr mailed to Staack at 5 S. Alton Street in Freeburg.
The post office stamped it for return to sender, unclaimed, and unable to forward.
Threlkeld heard the motion on March 10 and granted it, finding Darr submitted satisfactory reasoning for withdrawal.
He found granting the motion wouldn’t cause substantial prejudice or delay to any party.
He directed the clerk to delay the next conference to allow Staack to seek new counsel.
He directed Darr to provide an affidavit.
Darr wrote that he and Staack discussed that she and her family were unhappy and his representation was no longer desired.
“I informed Ms. Stack of an outstanding offer from the defendant and also told her I would be seeking to withdraw my appearance as her attorney,” he wrote.
He stated she expressed no objection.
Darr provided her address as 5 S. Alton Street.
He wrote that he mailed and emailed the withdrawal motion to her.
He added that the email didn’t bounce back and he had no reason to believe it wasn’t delivered as intended.
At a conference on April 26, Threlkeld granted leave for Gori’s estate to file a summary judgment motion.
He directed the estate to serve it on Staack at the address in Darr’s affidavit.
Anyone approaching the building at that address would recognize signs of vacancy.
Bricks at the top of the façade identify it as a school from 1876.
The Chicago firm of Schueler, Davallo, and Casieri represents Gori’s estate.