Chadha v. N. Park Elementary Sch. Ass'n

2018 IL App (1st) 171958

123 N.E.3d 519

428 Ill.Dec. 790

Raminder CHADHA, Plaintiff-Appellant and Cross-Appellee

v.NORTH PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION, Lynn Lawrence, Eric Moulton, Swan Development Corporation, Dan Luna, and The City of Chicago, Defendants-Appellees.

(North Park Elementary School Association, Lynn Lawrence, Eric Moulton, and Swan Development Corporation Cross-Appellants).

No. 1-17-1958

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Fourth Division.

Filed December 20, 2018

Alisa M. Levin, of Levin Law, Ltd., of Chicago, for appellant.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., of Chicago (David B. Goodman and Elizabeth A. Austermuehle, of counsel), for appellees North Park Elementary School Association, Lynn Lawrence, and Eric Moulton.

A&G Law LLC, of Chicago (Robert H. Muriel and Arthur M. Scheller III, of counsel), for appellee Swan Development Corporation.

Edward N. Siskel, Corporation Counsel, of Chicago (Benna Ruth Solomon, Myriam Zreczny Kasper, and Stephen G. Collins, Assistant Corporation Counsel, of counsel), for other appellees.

JUSTICE BURKE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 In 2008, plaintiff Raminder Chadha purchased a parcel of real property at 2035 West Montrose Avenue in Chicago, Illinois (the Property). The Property was adjacent to appellee North Park Elementary School (NPES) and contained a fire-damaged structure that had been boarded up. After Chadha had owned the Property for some time without repairing the damaged structure, appellee Eric Moulton, as an NPES board member and the president of appellee Swan Development Corporation (Swan), approached Chadha about purchasing the Property for an undisclosed client. Chadha declined Moulton's offers but did not repair the blighted structure. During this time, Chadha had been receiving notices of building code violations from the alderman's office of appellee City of Chicago (City), and the City initiated an action against him in the housing court to force him to remedy the violations. After Chadha failed to repair the structure, the housing court ordered Chadha to demolish it. Chadha demolished the structure in December 2010 and subsequently constructed a new structure on the Property.

¶ 2 After the demolition, NPES filed suit against Chadha alleging that, as a result of the demolition, he introduced lead into the ground that posed a hazard to the school children at NPES. NPES subsequently voluntarily dismissed its complaint. In 2013, Chadha filed suit against NPES alleging abuse of process for the unsubstantiated lawsuit. During discovery, Chadha received a series of e-mails between NPES board members, appellee Lynn Lawrence (then NPES's principal), and members of the alderman's office regarding the Property. Chadha filed an amended complaint adding Lawrence, Moulton, Swan, the City, and Dan Luna, a City employee, as defendants and alleging claims for civil conspiracy, tortious interference with contract, aiding and abetting, and violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) ( 18 U.S.C. §§ 1962(c), (d) (2012) ). Chadha alleged that the communications he obtained showed that defendants conspired against him to induce him to sell the Property to NPES at a reduced price through a campaign of harassment and intimidation.

¶ 3 The circuit court granted Luna and the City's (jointly, the City Defendants) motion to dismiss the claims against them in Chadha's complaint, finding that the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (Tort Immunity Act) ( 745 ILCS 10/1-101 et seq. (West 2014) ) statute of limitations barred any claims against those defendants. The court denied, however, the motion to dismiss under the Citizen Participation Act (Act) ( 735 ILCS 110/1 et seq. (West 2014) ) filed by NPES, Lawrence, Moulton (jointly the NPES Defendants), and joined by Swan. The NPES Defendants and Swan filed motions for summary judgment, and Chadha filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. The circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of the NPES Defendants and Swan and denied Chadha's cross-motion. Chadha now appeals that order, and the NPES Defendants and Swan filed a cross-appeal from the circuit court's denial of their motion to dismiss Chadha's complaint pursuant to the Act. For the reasons stated, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

¶ 4 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 5 In July 2008, Chadha purchased the Property for $225,000 with the intention to rehabilitate the fire-damaged structure and live there with his family. Chadha acknowledged that he had no prior experience as a contractor nor any experience with the rehabilitation of fire-damaged homes. Throughout 2008 and 2009, Chadha was unable to obtain financing for his rehabilitation project and began receiving building code violations and citations from the City for issues with the Property. In the summer of 2009, Chadha sent an e-mail to NPES to determine if it was interested in purchasing the Property. At the time, NPES was exploring the possibility of expanding its facilities, and Moulton proposed to the NPES board that he contact Chadha through Swan to inspect the Property and determine how much Chadha wanted for the Property.

¶ 6 With approval from the NPES board, Moulton contacted Chadha in March 2010 and informed him that he was inquiring about purchasing the Property "on behalf of a client." Moulton began negotiating with Chadha for the sale of the Property but never disclosed that he was connected to NPES. On April 30, 2010, while Moulton and Swan were negotiating to purchase the property from Chadha, the City filed a complaint against Chadha in housing court because he had failed to correct the building code violations. The City sought an order requiring Chadha to repair the structure or, in the alternative, a demolition order. On June 7, 2010, the housing court entered an order finding that the structure on the Property was "dangerous and hazardous to the public health, safety, and welfare." The court ordered that the City enter the premises and conduct a demolition inspection. The court continued the matter to January 10, 2011.

¶ 7 On June 14, 2010, Moulton informed the NPES board that Chadha was not interested in selling the Property. In an affidavit, Moulton averred that he had limited contact with Chadha after that date, which concerned only excavation issues after the demolition of the structure on the Property. On June 21, 2010, Chadha entered into a contract with Soto Home Remodelers (Soto) to rehabilitate the structure. At his deposition, Chadha was unable to recall when Soto applied for permits to perform the remodeling work but acknowledged that he received an e-mail from Soto stating that they applied for permits on August 30, 2010. Chadha testified that Soto did not perform any work on the Property because they were unable to obtain permits. Accordingly, Chadha terminated his contract with Soto.

¶ 8 On August 24, 2010, the housing court granted the City leave to file an amended complaint and ordered Chadha to schedule an inspection of the Property. The court also ordered Chadha to abate a rodent and pigeon infestation on the Property within seven days. The court continued the case to October 12, 2010. At his deposition, Chadha testified that he did not contest the City's allegations in its complaint and did not have counsel in the housing court proceeding. Chadha acknowledged that he did not address any of the violations identified by the City in its complaint. On October 12, 2010, the housing court ordered Chadha to demolish the structure on the Property by December 2010. On November 8, 2010, Chadha voluntarily withdrew his permits to rehabilitate the structure and, through a letter addressed to the City, stated his intention to build a new construction home on the Property after the demolition. Chadha hired Permit Express to obtain demolition permits for the current structure and permits for the new construction he planned to build on the Property, which it successfully obtained. Chadha demolished the structure in December 2010 in accordance with the housing court's order. Chadha subsequently constructed a new home on the Property through Thang Construction. Chadha estimated the current value of the Property with the newly constructed structure to be $1.1 million.

¶ 9 Chadha alleged that, after his property was demolished, NPES filed suit against him alleging that he had intentionally allowed lead to contaminate the soil as a result of the demolition. NPES subsequently voluntarily dismissed the suit. On August 2, 2013, Chadha filed his initial complaint in the case at bar naming NPES as the sole defendant. In his complaint, Chadha alleged that, when Moulton approached him in an effort to purchase the Property, Moulton did not reveal that he was a member of the NPES board or that he was acting on the NPES board's behalf. Defendant raised claims for abuse of process against NPES for pursuing an unsubstantiated lawsuit against him because NPES had not submitted any evidence that he introduced lead into the ground as a result of the demolition.

¶ 10 On July 29, 2014, Chadha filed an amended complaint and added Lawrence, Moulton, Swan, Luna, and Ben Bowdon¹ as defendants. In his amended complaint, Chadha contended that Lawrence, Bowdon, Moulton, NPES, and its board, along with Swan and Luna, "engage[d] in a concerted effort to force Chadha to sell the [Property] and to have the same demolished so that NPES could acquire it for a planned expansion." Chadha asserted that the defendants carried out this arrangement by sending anonymous complaints, writing letters, and making phone calls to the City and the alderman. Chadha contended that the defendants' actions resulted in the issuance of multiple complaints filed by the City relating to building code violations. Chadha asserted that, "despite his stated efforts and intent with regard to the" Property, he was issued violations from the City "all due to complaints lodged...