Lawsuit over injuries at Expocentre involves Shawnee County, facility’s former management company

An injury suffered by a spectator at a Kansas Kids Wrestling event in Topeka has officials wrestling over legal issues involving Shawnee County, the group that put on the event and the company that formerly managed the Kansas Expocentre.

The lawsuit involved was filed last year by Jonell Schenk, who says the sharp metal armrest of a fixed chair severely cut her on a leg as she tried to sit in it in March 2015 while attending the Kansas Kids Wrestling Tournament at the Expocentre’s Landon Arena.

Schenk, of Johnson County, says she initially needed 12 staples in her interior thigh. The wound then became infected and would not heal, requiring surgical treatment, Schenk said in petitions for separate lawsuits filed against Shawnee County and Pennsylvania-based SMG, the company that managed the Expocentre at the time. Schenk filed lawsuits against SMG in March 2017 and against Shawnee County in October 2017.

Both actions sought damages in excess of $75,000, contending Schenk was severely cut in March 2015 while stepping into her seat in Section 114 at Landon Arena. The petition in the lawsuit against Shawnee County said it didn’t respond to a claim Schenk filed against it.

Meanwhile, Shawnee County commissioners voted in May 2017 to replace SMG as the Expocentre’s management company with Philadelphia-based Spectra by Comcast Spectacor.

Shawnee County in December 2017 filed a cross-claim against SMG contending that if a court determined anyone was liable for Schenk’s claims, the liability would be completely or partially the fault of SMG.