Madison Record -

STAR bonds dead for now; newer version could be sweeter for cities

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:51:00 CST

Holbrook

When state lawmakers return to Springfield next year, they will likely take up a controversial sales tax and revenue (STAR) bonds bill that failed to gain enough support in veto session last week.

State Rep. Tom Holbrook (D-Belleville), sponsor of a bill that would support development of a 900-acre retail project in Glen Carbon, said a newer version has been drawn up and will be introduced in the next legislative session, according to a report in the Belleville News-Democrat.

Holbrook was called for comment but did not return a call by press time.

A newer version of the bill would collect all sales taxes generated by "destination" and "entertainment" users for STAR bonds, but collect no sales taxes generated from smaller "non-destination" or "non-entertainment" sites, according to proposed revisions obtained by the Record.

Various news reports identify Legoland amusement park as a potential anchor tenant, or destination site, at the proposed University Town Center (UTC) in Glen Carbon.

The STAR bonds bill that passed in the General Assembly this summer would have captured at least $15 million a year in state sales tax and channeled 100 percent to developers. Bonds would have been repaid with proceeds from the five percent tax that the state would normally have collected.

Gov. Pat Quinn did not sign the bill, which was originally introduced by Sen. James Clayborne (D-Belleville). Instead, Quinn offered an amendatory veto that would have split taxes with developers on a 50-50 basis. No action was taken on the bill in veto session.

Bruce Holland of Holland Construction is president of UTC. John Costello, son of U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, is a principal of UTC.

According to a two page summary of proposed revisions, a newer bill could also redistribute property taxes to offset the loss of sales tax revenues attributable to the STAR bonds district for municipalities and counties within 10 miles of the district.

"Note that this plan is not expected to make surrounding communities whole, but will reduce their loss," states one of the proposed revisions.

The revised bill continues to give authority to an appointed official -- rather than an elected official -- in the project's approval process.

"Requires political subdivision (Glen Carbon) to apply to IDOR (Illinois Department of Revenue) for project approval," the proposed revision states.

As legislators convened for the second week of veto session Oct. 28-30, Troy Mayor Tom Caraker said he and a group of city leaders were in strong opposition to STAR bonds.

"It is the most unfair, irresponsible piece of legislation that has passed the General Assembly," Caraker said regarding the original bill.

"The Illinois General Assembly is going to give away $15 million a year when they can't reimburse Medicaid ...let alone not pay the schools?" Caraker said. "The State of Illinois is borrowing $1 billion to make payments on these things...then turn around and give $15 million to a private developer?"

Caraker said University Town Center would "absolutely stop any future development" in surrounding communities within 25-50 miles.

He called the developers' assertion that 10,000 jobs would be created in the project "irresponsible."

"I am a strong union supporter," he said. "But, there could never be 10,000 jobs. It would be virtually impossible."

Route 143 accident in Highland results in suit

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:59:00 CST

A man has filed suit against the driver who he claims failed to stop at an intersection and struck him.

Stephen Beavers claims he was driving a 1999 silver Ford Econoline van on State Route 143 near its intersection with Suppieger Lane in Highland on Jan. 9, 2008, when defendant Judith A. Chaney, who was driving a 2005 gold Toyota Prius on Suppieger Lane near the same intersection, struck him.

Because of the accident, Beavers suffered injuries to his back and shoulders, experienced great pain and mental anguish, suffered permanent disability and lost his normal life, according to the complaint filed Oct. 28 in Madison County Circuit Court. In addition, he incurred medical costs and lost his ability to return to his normal occupation, the suit states.

Chaney negligently failed to keep her vehicle under proper control, failed to keep a proper lookout, failed to stop her vehicle to avoid a collision, failed to yield the right-of-way and drove into Beavers' lane of traffic when it was not safe to do so, the complaint says.

Beavers is seeking a judgment in excess of $50,000, plus costs.

John C. Webster of Williamson, Webster, Falb and Glisson in Alton will be representing him.

Madison County Circuit Court case number: 09-L-1145.

Capitol One files suit over unpaid note

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:19:00 CST

Capital One claims a woman has failed to reimburse it more than $50,000 for a car she financed through the company.

Capital One Auto Finance Inc. filed suit Oct. 30 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Tifford Shields.

Capital One claims Shields entered into a retail installment contract to buy an automobile for $50,137.43.

However, Shields has paid no money toward the contract and now owes Capital One $50,487.43, according to the complaint.

In addition to the money it says it is due, Capital One is seeking costs.

Blitt and Ganies in Wheeling will be representing it.

St. Clair County Circuit Court case number: 09-L-588.

Illinois SC: Emotional distress claims don't require proof

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:57:00 CST

Kilbride

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that emotional distress claims don't require expert proof.

The high court's Oct. 29 decision holds that the absence of medical testimony does not preclude testimony for negligent infliction of emotional distress, but goes to the weight of the evidence.

"We hold that expert testimony is not required to support a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress," Justice Thomas Kilbride wrote for the high court.

The original case was filed by Toni Thornton of Will County. She sued Dr. Francisco Garcini over her infant son's death and sought compensation for negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Her son was born in 2000 prematurely in a breech position, at an approximate gestational age of 24 weeks. The baby, Jason Anthony Ebner, died when the nurses at the hospital were unable to complete the delivery. The doctor arrived at the hospital more than an hour later.

Thornton brought a medical negligence claim against the doctor, Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet, and the individual nurses. The lawsuit included an individual claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress from the delivery.

The case has been before a Will County trial court twice. Thornton claimed at trial that she suffered emotionally from laying in a hospital bed for more than an hour with her son partially delivered.

As a result, she said she was depressed, and could not eat or sleep.
At the first trial, the jury found in favor of the doctor and nurses, dismissing Thornton's claims against them. On the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim against the hospital, the jury awarded her $175,000.

She appealed, and the appellate court granted a new trial. At the retrial, the jury found in favor of the doctor on the plaintiff's wrongful-death and survival claims, but in favor of Thornton on her negligent infliction of emotional distress claim. The jury awarded her $700,000.

The appeals court affirmed the verdict, and the state Supreme Court upheld the decision in the case.

"Plaintiff, the infant's father, and plaintiff's mother all testified about plaintiff's behavior and emotional state following the event. The record sufficiently established that plaintiff suffered emotional distress," Kilbride wrote. "We hold defendant is not entitled to a judgment notwithstanding the verdict due to the lack of expert testimony on the issue of plaintiff's emotional distress."

ISMS against current healthcare proposals; AFSCME for

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:41:00 CST

On the eve of a crucial health care reform vote in Congress, positions are hardening.

The Illinois State Medical Society (ISMS) recently issued an open letter to Illinois patients denouncing the plan.

"[W]e cannot support the direction of current proposals before Congress," states the letter signed by physician members of the Illinois State Medical Society.

Illinois State Medical Society President Dr. James Milam, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Vernon Hills, said the healthcare reform proposal being considered by Congress is built on the "faulty foundations of Medicare and Medicaid."

"That's the whole frustration," Milam said in a phone interview. "There is such a poor track record."

"Heaping more strain on these public programs without repairing their flaws will undermine your access to care," the ISMS letter states.

Member doctors say they are committed to meaningful reform and to preserving the physician-patient relationship.

In the meantime, the state's largest employee union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), is pressuring an Illinois Democratic delegation to vote for a House bill, which could be taken on Saturday.

AFSCME, which represents about 100,000 active and retired members in Illinois, claims that 8,100 families within five congressional districts filed health-care related bankruptcies in 2008.

The union is targeting Democratic Reps. Jerry Costello (12th District), Debbie Halvorson (11th District), Bill Foster (14th District), Dan Lipinski (3rd District) and Melissa Bean (8th District).

The report claims there are 40,000 uninsured individuals in Costello's district and 227,000 uninsured individuals in the five targeted districts.

"A 'Yes' vote on HR 3249 will ensure that these Illinoisans won't have to worry any more about their ability to afford health care for themselves, a sick child, or an ailing spouse," says the AFSCME report.

ISMS is opposed to government mandated treatment guidelines, a government subsidized public option, a single payor health system and the further expansion of Medicaid as a means of covering the uninsured.

Godfrey sued by woman who slips on loose gravel

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:11:00 CST

A Madison County woman claims she slipped on loose gravel while crossing an intersection in her neighborhood.

Karen Cahill of 3213 Whitford Place in Godfrey claims she was walking her dog in the crosswalk section of the intersection of Whitford Place and Whitford Lane on Nov. 11, 2008, when she slipped and fell because of loose gravel that had accumulated.

Because of the incident, Cahill suffered numerous and permanent disabling and disfiguring injuries, incurred medical costs and lost large sums of money she would have otherwise earned, according to the complaint filed Nov. 3 in Madison County Circuit Court.

Cahill names the village of Godfrey as a defendant because she says it failed to compress loose gravel to the road, applied an excessive amount of gravel to the intersection, failed to remove the accumulated excess gravel and failed to inspect the condition of the road.

Cahill is seeking a judgment of more than $50,000, plus costs.

She will be represented by Robert D. Larson of Alton.

Madison County Circuit Court case number: 09-L-1170.

New trial date tentatively set in Accutane suit

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:00:00 CST

Hylla

The oft-postponed trial of what was originally the nation's first suit over an acne medication has been re-set again five months from now.

Madison County Circuit David Hylla, the suit's presiding judge, met with attorneys from plaintiff Jason Peipert and defendants Hoffman-LaRoche Inc., Roche Laboratories and Dr. Daniel Goran, on Tuesday. The hearing was to continue hammering out discovery issues in the case and also to set a new trial.

The group eventually settled on a new trial date of April 12, 2010.

While attorneys joked about starting trial Monday, Hylla was not inclined, he said. Due to two coming trials already on Hylla's calendar, the only time left for a trial this year is later in December, Hylla told the attorneys. And he was not going to schedule a trial near the Christmas holidays.

"The jurors would hang us all," Hylla joked.

The suit was scheduled for trial Oct. 19. That date was moved due to on-going discovery issues.

The 2003 suit began as a medical malpractice suit and has transformed into a combined medical malpractice and product liability case.

Peipert, of Godfrey, is suing Goran, of Edwardsville, and the makers of the acne medication Accutane for the drug's alleged role in his development of bowel disease.

Peipert's suit claims that Goran negligently prescribed the drug knowing it was difficult to manage in patients and that the drug's makers should have realized its causal relationship to bowel disease.

Peipert is represented John Papa.

Goran is represented by Jeffrey Glass.

Hoffman LaRoche and Roche Laboratories are represented by Bart Sullivan.

The case is Madison case number 03-L-2040.

Injuries claimed in Edgewood Avenue accident

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:00:00 CST

A woman has filed suit against the driver who she says failed to stop at a stop sign and crashed into the front and side of her vehicle.

Stephanie A. Showalter filed a lawsuit Nov. 3 in Madison County Circuit Court against Mark A. Kerley and Karen A. Schinker.

Showalter claims she was driving north on Edgewood Avenue at its intersection with Johnson Road in Granite City on Sept. 23 when Kerley, who was driving east on Johnson Road, pulled into oncoming traffic and hit her.

"The Defendant, Karen A. Schinker, by and through her permissive driver, Mark A. Kerley, was operating a motor vehicle," the suit states.

Because of the accident, Schinker was made sick, sore, lame, disordered and disabled; received injuries to her neck and back; and incurred medical costs, according to the complaint. In addition, she suffered disability, experienced pain and suffering and lost wages, the suit states.

Showalter blames Kerley and Schinker for failing to keep a proper lookout, for driving in such a way that he struck her vehicle, for failing to properly apply his brakes, for driving too fast, for failing to stop at the stop sign and for failing to yield the right-of-way.

In the two-count suit, Showalter is seeking a judgment of more than $100,000, plus costs.

Thomas C. Rich and Jennifer L. Barbieri of Fairview Heights will be representing her.

Madison County Circuit Court case number: 09-L-1169.

Champaign accident is subject of Madison County suit

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:00:00 CST

A man has filed suit against the 18-year-old who he says struck the vehicle in which he was riding.

At the time of the collision, Frank Hoffman claims 18-year-old defendant Shane Asher was driving a 2007 Chrysler 300, which his mother and co-defendant Marion Asher had rented for him after he had been involved in another accident.

Hoffman claims he was riding in a 2000 Ford defendant Cory Luitjohan was driving south on Neil Street at its intersection with Windsor in Champaign on Oct. 17, 2008, at 4:02 p.m. when the incident occurred.

"That at the date and time herein alleged, Co-Defendant Shane Asher of 4913 State Route 160, Highland, Illinois, was driving a 2007 Chrysler 300, traveling northbound on Neil Street in the left-hand turn lane, when he entered the intersection with Windsor, striking the vehicle in which Plaintiff was a passenger in the City of Champaign, County of Champaign, State of Illinois," the suit filed Oct. 30 in Madison County Circuit Court.

Because of the accident, Hoffman sustained severe and permanent injuries to his chest, abdomen and leg, became sick, sore, lame and disordered and suffered great pain and anguish, the complaint says. In addition, he suffered internal derangement of the injured members of his body, incurred medical costs and was prevented from earning money, according to the complaint.

Hoffman blames Shane Asher and Luitjohan for failing to keep the vehicle under control, for failing to observe Hoffman's vehicle, for failing to drive at a reasonable speed, for failing to reduce his speed to avoid a collision, for failing to yield the right-of-way at an intersection and for failing to obey traffic control devices.

Marion Asher should never have rented a vehicle for Shane Asher, knowing he was an incompetent driver, according to the complaint.

"Defendant Marion Asher knew Co-Defendant Shane Asher had caused other automobile accidents and had prior road rage," the suit states. "Co-Defendant Shane Asher has a known history of driving automobiles in an unreasonably risky manner, and Defendant Marion Asher knew this."

In the three-count suit, Hoffman is seeking a judgment of more than $150,000, plus costs and other relief the court deems just.

Richard G. Reed of Reed and Bruhn in Belleville will be representing him.

Madison County Circuit Court case number: 09-L-1158.

Wood River adds ex-wife to suit brought by Rick Jones

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:30:00 CST

Rick Jones and former wife Dorothy Jones haven't finished untangling their finances, according to the city of Wood River.

On Oct. 28, the city joined Dorothy Jones as defendant in a suit Rick Jones filed against the city in Madison County Circuit Court.

Rick Jones sued the city in June, claiming it breached a development contract that he, Dorothy Jones and city officials signed in 2005.

The city answered in July that Rick failed to join Dorothy as a necessary party.

Rick's lawyer, Harry Sterling of Fairview Heights, wrote in August that "Dorothy L. Jones no longer has an interest in the real estate in question."

In Wood River, they don't believe it.

Daniel Nester of St. Louis wrote for the city on Oct. 28 that the county recorder had not recorded a deed transferring Dorothy's interest to Rick.

Until that happens, he wrote, Dorothy remains an owner.

"The city's due process rights in avoiding multiple suits and potentially inconsistent judgments only can be protected by joining Dorothy Jones in this action," he wrote.

"Further, her actions could affect the city's obligations and liabilities under the agreement, preventing this court from making a complete determination of the controversy in her absence," he wrote.

He wrote that "a necessary plaintiff who declines to join a cause of action shall be made a defendant in the action."

Rick Jones pleaded guilty in January to federal charges of income tax evasion.

He confessed that he spent for personal gain money that BP Amoco paid his company, Triad Industries, to decontaminate soil at its refinery.

He agreed to pay the government $1.2 million and BP Amoco $2.4 million.

He started serving a 15 month prison sentence in October at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan.