Du Bois v. Sherwood Commons Townhome Owners Association, Inc.

2025 IL App (3d) 240122-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 10, 2025
Docket3-24-0122
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2025 IL App (3d) 240122-U (Du Bois v. Sherwood Commons Townhome Owners Association, Inc.) 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
Du Bois v. Sherwood Commons Townhome Owners Association, Inc., 2025 IL App (3d) 240122-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1).

2025 IL App (3d) 240122-U

Order filed July 10, 2025 ____________________________________________________________________________

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

THIRD DISTRICT

RICARDO DU BOIS, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court ) of the 12th Judicial Circuit, Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Will County, Illinois, ) v. ) Appeal No. 3-24-0122 ) Circuit No. 21-CH-220 SHERWOOD COMMONS TOWNHOME ) OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., ) Honorable ) John C. Anderson, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, Presiding. ____________________________________________________________________________

JUSTICE PETERSON delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice Brennan and Justice Bertani concurred in the judgment. ____________________________________________________________________________

ORDER

¶1 Held: The court did not err by granting summary judgment in favor of unit owner on unit owner’s claims and removing the Association’s lien. The court erred by granting summary judgment in favor of unit owner on the Association’s counterclaims, as there are genuine issues as to material facts regarding those claims.

¶2 Defendant, Sherwood Commons Townhome Owners Association, Inc. (Association)

appeals the Will County Circuit Court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff,

Ricardo Du Bois, on Du Bois’s claims and the Association’s counterclaims. The Association argues that the court erred by finding that the Condominium Property Act (Condominium Act)

(765 ILCS 605/1 et. seq. (West 2020)) applied to the Association in this case. It further argues

that there was not sufficient evidence to find a breach of fiduciary duty by the Association.

Lastly, the Association argues that a judgment and eviction order should have been entered in its

favor because Du Bois failed to sufficiently rebut that amounts were due and owing. We affirm

in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

¶3 I. BACKGROUND

¶4 In May 2018, the Association filed a complaint against Du Bois, alleging causes of action

for possession under the Forcible Entry and Detainer Act (735 ILCS 5/9-101 et. seq. (West

2018)) due to unpaid assessments and breach of contract for failing to pay his share of the

common expenses. Sherwood Commons Townhome Owners Ass’n, Inc. v. Du Bois, 2020 IL App

(3d) 180561, ¶ 3. Attached to the complaint were two ledgers. Id. ¶ 4. One ledger was from

American Utility Management (AUM) and listed monthly statement charges and late payment

charges for Du Bois’s unit. Id. The other was a financial transactions ledger from the Association

that included charges listed as assessments, attorney fees, late fees, and collection fees. Id.

Testimony established that the AUM charges were for the water bill. Id. ¶ 7. Defendant disputed

that the water bill was an assessment or common expense and disputed the amount owed. Id. ¶ 8.

The court ruled in favor of defendant and found that the water bill was not an assessment. Id.

¶ 11. The court stated that it did not rule defendant did not owe the water bill and that the

Association could go after him to make sure he paid the water bill if it was owed to them. Id.

¶ 11. The court found in favor of defendant on the factual disputes over the water bill. Id. ¶ 12.

The court also indicated that as of December 9, 2017, the amount of assessments owed by

defendant was $0. Id. ¶¶ 7, 11. On appeal, this court affirmed. Id. ¶ 35. This court found that the

2 Condominium Act applied, as the Association’s own declaration stated it was adopted pursuant

to the Condominium Act. Id. ¶ 19. The court stated that to prevail, the Association needed to

prove (1) common expenses or other expenses lawfully agreed to were owed, (2) Du Bois failed

to pay, and (3) the amount owed. Id. ¶ 21. It then noted that the circuit court had found that the

Association failed to establish the water bill was an assessment and failed to establish the amount

owed, as it found in favor of Du Bois on that factual dispute. Id. ¶ 23. The court determined the

trial court findings were not against the manifest weight of the evidence. Id. ¶ 24. This court

stated that the record was devoid of any evidence as to how Du Bois owed the Association for

the water bill. Id. Therefore, the court upheld the circuit court’s ruling on the breach of contract

claim for essentially the same reasons. Id. ¶¶ 32-33.

¶5 On June 8, 2021, Du Bois filed a complaint against the Association in the instant action.

He alleged that the Association improperly placed a lien on his property for assessments,

attorney fees, and costs that arose from the prior lawsuit. Du Bois set forth a cause of action for

breach of fiduciary duty under the Condominium Act, which provided that in the performance of

their duties, board members shall exercise the care required of a fiduciary of the unit owners. He

also set forth a cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty regarding the bylaws. Under both

causes of action, he alleged that the Association breached its fiduciary duty by placing a lien on

his unit with no legal basis and that the claim for assessments, attorney fees, and costs was made

in bad faith. In count III of his complaint, Du Bois also sought a permanent injunction requiring

the Association to remove the lien, as he argued the lien was a cloud on his title and would

impede his ability to sell the property for fair market value. The Association filed an answer,

affirmative defenses, and counterclaims. The Association argued in its affirmative defenses that

the breach of fiduciary duty claims were barred by the business judgment rule. The Association

3 set forth causes of action for possession, assessments, common expenses, and breach of

declaration of easements, restrictions and covenants. The Association alleged that Du Bois owed

common expenses, including late charges, interest, fines and chargebacks, in the sum of

$13,085.28. The Association also sought attorney fees and costs.

¶6 In October 2023, the Association filed a motion for summary judgment. In its summary

of uncontested facts, the Association alleged that in December 2020, the Association’s board of

directors approved a resolution to clarify that water and sewer charges are collectable in the same

manner as assessments or other common expenses. The Association also alleged that it recorded

a lien against Du Bois’s property in the amount of $10,250.35, which was comprised of unpaid

common expenses, including assessments, water charges, late fees and attorney fees and costs.

The Association argued that Du Bois could not show that a fiduciary duty existed because the

Condominium Act did not apply because it is a townhome association. Additionally, the

Association argued that Du Bois could not show a breach of fiduciary duty because, in a prior

action between the parties, the court acknowledged that amounts remained due even though

Du Bois could not be evicted for such unpaid amounts. Further, the Association argued that any

claim for breach of fiduciary duty must overcome the business judgment rule, which recognizes

that absent bad faith, fraud, illegality or gross overreaching, courts cannot interfere with the

exercise of business judgment by corporate directors.

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2025 IL App (3d) 240122-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/du-bois-v-sherwood-commons-townhome-owners-association-inc-illappct-2025.