Continental Cablevision of Cook County, Inc. v. Miller

606 N.E.2d 587, 238 Ill. App. 3d 774, 179 Ill. Dec. 755, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1932
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 30, 1992
Docket1—91—1873, 1—91—2158 cons.
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 606 N.E.2d 587 (Continental Cablevision of Cook County, Inc. v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Continental Cablevision of Cook County, Inc. v. Miller, 606 N.E.2d 587, 238 Ill. App. 3d 774, 179 Ill. Dec. 755, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1932 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE EGAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendants are Triumvera Homeowners’ Association (Triumvera), a development located in unincorporated Cook County near Glenview, Illinois, which comprises the other defendants, nine different condominium associations, and Sidney Miller, the president of Triumvera. The plaintiff is Continental Cablevision of Cook County, Inc. (Continental), a cable television system operating pursuant to a franchise granted by the Cook County Board. The defendants appeal from an order granting Continental’s motion for a preliminary injunction which in part enjoined the defendants from interfering with the servicing of Continental’s existing Triumvera residents and an order which conditionally approved a plan to install cable television for one Triumvera resident.

Truimvera has 538 residential units and includes townhouses, mid-rise apartment buildings and a tower building. Triumvera owns and maintains the common areas of the development; the individual condominium associations are responsible for the common areas located within their respective buildings.

Continental entered into negotiations with Triumvera to provide cable television service at a discount bulk rate. Continental and Triumvera failed to reach an agreement on the bulk rate for cable services. The parties did, however, reach an agreement whereby Continental was allowed to enter onto the common areas of the property, install a cable television system and maintain its equipment and services. In accordance with this agreement, in November 1988, Continental representatives met with Triumvera representatives and plotted the underground cable runs through the common areas of the development. The underground cable work was completed in April 1989. According to the Sidney Miller, Triumvera’s president, the association terminated this agreement in a letter sent June 5, 1989, for alleged nonperformance on the part of Continental.

After the agreement was terminated, the parties continued to negotiate over terms, price, and internal wiring of the system; they could not reach an agreement. On November 16, 1990, Miller sent a letter to Continental demanding that Continental remove all of its equipment from the development. A Continental employee testified that he was supervising the installation of cable services when he was asked to leave the Triumvera development sometime in November 1989.

The defendants also took other actions to discourage residents from continuing to receive or order Continental’s cable services. The Triumvera board notified certain residents by letter that they must have all their cable equipment removed from their units until Continental was granted a license. The defendants threatened these residents with legal action if they did not comply with the development’s instruction. The defendants also copied Continental’s marketing materials, stamped them with the phrase “Disregard this Notice” and distributed the materials to all unit owners.

On December 5, 1990, Continental filed a three-count complaint, seeking a declaratory judgment, a temporary restraining order, and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, barring the defendants from interfering with Continental’s servicing of Triumvera residents who wanted cable television. The complaint also sought to bar the defendants from interfering with Continental’s construction of a cable television system at the development. Another count of the complaint sought damages in excess of $15,000.

On December 7, 1990, Continental filed a motion for a temporary restraining order. «A hearing was held on December 12, 1990, and Judge Robert Sklodowski denied Continental’s motion for a temporary restraining order; he held that such an order sought to modify the status quo and obtain mandatory relief; however, he also said that Continental could have access to the development property to service its existing customers and equipment.

Continental filed a second motion for a temporary restraining order on December 21, 1990, alleging that its employees were ordered to vacate the Triumvera property when they were servicing existing customers, despite Judge Sklodowski’s order and that the defendants had threatened legal action to a resident if she continued to receive cable service from Continental. Judge Edward Hofert, who took over the case after Judge Sklodowski resigned from the bench, denied Continental’s request for a temporary restraining order; he said that the harm suffered by Continental at that point was minimal considering all of the surrounding circumstances.

On January 3, 1991, Triumvera and the condominium associations filed a counterclaim seeking injunctive relief prohibiting further entry on the common areas of the development by Continental. The counterclaim also sought a declaratory judgment that Continental breached its agreement and that the cable access statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 34, pars. 5—1095, 5—1096) is unconstitutional.

On January 8, 1991, Judge Hofert heard arguments on whether the individual unit owners had to be joined as necessary parties. He determined that the owner of a unit which needs to be accessed for installation of cable services is a necessary party and must be joined. He also determined that all of the unit owners were to receive notice of the proposed plan of installation and be invited to join the proceedings.

On February 25, 1991, the judge began to hear testimony on Continental’s motion for a preliminary injunction. During this hearing Paul Carson, a Continental employee in its commercial development department, testified that about 13 Triumvera residents were interested in receiving cable television service. Carson also testified that the company had sent out interest surveys and received written requests for service, but that most of the requests for service came by phone.

Continental’s plant manager, Steve Fedeczko, detailed Continental’s proposed plan of installation of a cable television system at the development. Fedeczko stated that he was responsible for all aspects of design of the cable systems for Continental.

Continental’s plan of installation included attaching plastic troughs or moldings to some of the condominium buildings. Cable would be run inside the troughs. When an individual owner requested service, a hole would be drilled through the outer wall of the unit, and a cable would be run from the owner’s unit to the cable in the trough. In some buildings, cable would be run in the basement and attached to the walls or the ceilings of the basement. On cross-examination, Fedeczko testified that the implementation of this plan was not necessary for Continental to continue service to its existing customers, but some of this installation would be necessary when a nonsubscribing Triumvera resident requested cable.

No testimony on Continental’s motion for a preliminary injunction was heard between February 26 and April 16. During the interim, Continental filed its third motion for a temporary restraining order. On April 5,1991, the judge denied Continental’s motion.

On May 6, 1991, the hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction resumed. Bruno Aiello, a Triumvera resident, testified he wanted to receive cable television. He had received and completed an interest survey sent out by Continental.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
606 N.E.2d 587, 238 Ill. App. 3d 774, 179 Ill. Dec. 755, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1932, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/continental-cablevision-of-cook-county-inc-v-miller-illappct-1992.