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" Plaintiff's attorney Thomas Maag, who has litigated class action lawsuits against corporate giants such as Wal-Mart, AT&T and Jack-in-the-Box, is no longer associated with The Lakin Law Firm of Wood River. <br /><br />Maag has joined the Collinsville plaintiff's firm Wendler & Ezra, according to court documents.<br /><br />The <i>Record</i> discovered that Maag switched firms as it reported on a case involving plaintiffs Keith Yount and Cindy Yount who are suing Lisa Shashek, Cassens & Sons, Cassens Corporation and \"unknown defendants.\" <br /><br />Maag represents the Younts, who are alleging that Keith Yount suffered an injury March 11, 2004, while working for Cassens Transport. (See related story). <br /><br />Maag is the son of former appellate court judge Gordon E. Maag, who lost his bid for Illinois Supreme Court justice to Lloyd Karmeier in November 2004.<br /><br />A week after the election, Thomas Maag filed a civil lawsuit against Karmeier campaign worker Steve Tomaszewski charging him with \"trespassing\" and \"slander of title\" for placing Republican political signs on land owned by Maag in Collinsville. <br /><br />The suit was later dropped by Maag. <br /><br />In addition to pursuing class action lawsuits, Maag also has represented Madison County plaintiffs Armettia Peach and Connie Gibbs.  <br /><br />Peach sued Granite City and won a $104,000 default judgment because the city approved a home inspection in spite of alleged defects, and because the city allegedly did not answer the complaint.<br /><br />Madison County Circuit Judge Andy Matoesian stayed Peach's suit against Granite City and city resident Kevin Link, over Maag's objection on Dec. 2, 2005.<br /><br />Matoesian said he lacked jurisdiction because Maag appealed an Aug. 16 order in which Matoesian vacated a default judgment against Granite City.<br /><br />Connie Gibbs was represented by Maag in a suit against Toys-R-Us, filed in 2004 in Madison County Circuit Court. Gibbs claimed the company fired her after she got sick in order to avoid paying her pension. <br /><br />According to Gibbs' complaint, she worked at the Toys-R-Us store in Fairview Heights for almost five years before an illness forced her to take \"authorized sick leave time.\" <br /><br />The complaint said that Toys-R-Us used Gibbs' illness as a pretext to fire her so the company wouldn't have to pay her pension, which would have vested upon her five-year anniversary as an employee. <br /><br />The suit accused Toys-R-Us of defaming Gibbs by suggesting to her next employer that she was \"engaging in illegal conduct at the store.\" <br /><br />Gibbs also alleged her former managers at Toys-R-Us got her fired from her next job, at Jack-in-the-Box.<br /><br />"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://madisonrecord.com/stories/510561066-thomas-maag-goes-to-work-for-wendler-ezra>