P&W Obtains Appellate Win Affirming Summary Judgment for Municipality

Jason Friedl successfully defeated a plaintiff's appeal from a court ruling that granted summary judgment in favor of a municipality. The plaintiff alleged that the City of Kankakee wrongfully demolished a building without notice to the owner. The Third District of the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed summary judgment in the City's favor, Willie Pearl Burrell Trust v. City of Kankakee, 2016 IL App (3d) 150398, on the grounds that: (1) a 5 ½ year delay between the entry of a 2006 court order for property demolition and the actual performance of the demolition did not invalidate the order; (2) the plaintiff could not use a 2013 action to attack the sufficiency of the 2006 demolition action; and (3) the City's 2006 lis pendens notice of intention to demolish the building, which predated the plaintiff's purchase of the building, was sufficient notice to the plaintiff, and the City did not owe a duty to separately notify the plaintiff of the demolition regardless of whether the City was aware of the plaintiff's purchase of the building. The Illinois Supreme Court declined the plaintiff's request to review the Appellate Court's ruling.