Lathrop v. Juneau & Associates, Inc. P.C.

220 F.R.D. 322, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1820, 2004 WL 288594
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 11, 2004
DocketNo. 03-CV-0194-DRH
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 220 F.R.D. 322 (Lathrop v. Juneau & Associates, Inc. P.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lathrop v. Juneau & Associates, Inc. P.C., 220 F.R.D. 322, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1820, 2004 WL 288594 (S.D. Ill. 2004).

Opinion

[324]*324 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HERNDON, District Judge.

I. Introduction

Before the Court is the motion to dismiss, motion to strike, or, in the alternative, for more definite statement, submitted by Defendants Juneau & Associates, Inc. P.C., Joe Juneau, Ed Juneau, and Charlie Juneau (Doc. 4). Pro se Plaintiff Stephen Lathrop is a contractor who apparently had a construction project approved by Granite City’s Aldermen and has brought a claim alleging that Defendants wrongfully prevented the completion of his agreement because it would have interfered with another construction project in which all named Defendants had a legal or illegal interest.

II. Background

Plaintiff alleges that Juneau & Associates and its owners, Joe Juneau, Ed Juneau, and Charlie Juneau, overpriced Granite City for construction projects that they obtained by bribing city officials with kickbacks (Complaint 111130-31). Plaintiff claims that Defendants’ kickback scheme injured him when Defendants purposefully undermined his pending Dobrey Slough construction agreement with Granite City because of its conflicts with one of Juneau & Associates’ construction projects.

The following are the main individuals (parties) in this suit:

1. Plaintiff Stephen Lathrop is a contractor in Granite City, Illinois.
2. Defendant Juneau & Associates is a private engineering firm contracted to serve as city engineer for several municipalities.
3. Defendant Joe Juneau is Granite City’s civil engineer and an owner of Juneau & Associates.
4. Defendants Ed Juneau and Charlie Juneau are owners of Juneau & Associates.
5. Defendant Dan Brown is Economic Advisor for Granite City.
6. Defendant Ronald Selph is Mayor of Granite City.
7. Defendant Mark Spengler is City Attorney for Granite City.

For the sake of clarity, the Defendants Juneau & Associates, Joe Juneau, Ed Juneau, and Charlie Juneau will be referred to collectively as the “Juneau Defendants.” The Defendants the City of Granite City, Dan Brown, Ronald Selph, and Mark Spengler will be referred to collectively as the “Granite City Defendants.”

Lathrop’s complaint brings these claims against Defendants (Doc. 1):

1. RICO violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) — premised on federal predicate acts of bribery, wire fraud, mail fraud, and other federal laws; also premised on state predicate acts of bribery, defamation, and other Illinois laws (111183-88);
2. RICO violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) and (d) — same predicate acts as above (111189-94);
3. RICO violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(a) and (d) — same predicate acts as above (111195-100);
4. RICO violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(b) and (d) — same predicate acts as above plus fraud under 18 U.S.C. 1342 and “related fraudulent defamatory under U.S.C. 1961(1), 1961(5), and 1962(b)” (1111101-106);
5. Tortious interference with prospective business relations (1111107-109);
6. Civil Conspiracy (KH111-117);
7. Violation of state and federal freedom of information acts (HH118-120); and
8. Violation of state and federal anti-trust laws (1111121-126).

Plaintiff proposed a construction project that would have provided flood control measures and a housing development for the Dobrey Slough area in Granite City, Illinois (Complaint H 32). During several meetings from 1998 until the spring of 2000, Plaintiff met with Alderman Kim Hess and Defendants Dan Brown (Economic Advisor) and Joe Juneau (City Engineer) to discuss the need for implementing his flood control measures for Dobrey Slough (Complaint 1132, 33). At the meeting, Plaintiff also explained that Juneau & Associates’ construction project at the nearby DonnaLynne subdivision would worsen Dobrey Slough’s flooding problems (Complaint 1133). Plaintiff notes in his complaint that the US-Army Corps of [325]*325Engineers eventually determined that the drainage plan of Juneau & Associates’ Don-naLynne project was inadequate when it eventually forced Granite City to construct a $1.8 million drainpipe to Horseshoe Lake from the DonnaLynne subdivision (Complaint 1T 75).

In the spring of 2000, Granite City Aider-men held an Economics and Downtown Planning Committee Meeting at which Defendant Joe Juneau presented the DonnaLynne proposal (Complaint H 34). Mayor Ronald Selph informed the Aldermen that he had already made an agreement with Juneau & Associates and sought only the Aldermen’s authorization to sign the agreement (Complaint H34). Plaintiff claims the Aldermen never saw the actual agreement but instead relied on the Mayor’s misrepresentation that the funds for the project would be repaid within seven years (Complaint 111134-35). According to Plaintiffs complaint, the DonnaLynne agreement actually stipulated that the project would cost $800,000 for which the city would not be reimbursed (Complaint H)134-35). Plaintiff asserts that Keith Jensen, then city attorney, was not present at the meeting, was unaware of the DonnaLynne subdivision plan, and was denied access to the written agreement by Defendant Mark Spengler (another city attorney)(Complaint 1138). Plaintiff claims several state laws and local ordinances were broken by the approval process and implementation of Juneau & Associates’ DonnaLynne subdivision project (Complaint 1139).1

In September of 2000, Plaintiff and his prospective backer Don Balsters agreed to seek approval of Plaintiffs Dobrey Slough project (Complaint H 40). Apparently, Plaintiff and Balsters made some progress in negotiations with the Granite City Economic Committee, but Balsters withdrew because of some statements made by Defendants Dan Brown and Joe Juneau (Complaint HIT 40-41). Balsters went with Defendants Dan Brown and Joe Juneau to Plaintiffs house to tell Plaintiff of his withdrawal (Id). Plaintiff claims that a witness heard Dan Brown state that he had just “Knocked the legs out from under Lathrop’s project. We can’t let him compete with our DonnaLynne subdivision” (Complaint H 42). Plaintiff claims that Defendants made false and groundless statements about him to governmental representatives, agencies, business partners, and financiers to prevent Plaintiffs Dobrey Slough plan from being accepted (Complaint 1136). Specifically, Plaintiff claims that Defendants referred to him as being “shady” (Complaint 1137), not “know[ing] what he is doing” (Complaint H 36), and being “a substandard builder”(Complaint 1136).

On September 10, 2001, Plaintiff found another financial backer, Kent Kehr (Complaint 1143).

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Bluebook (online)
220 F.R.D. 322, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1820, 2004 WL 288594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lathrop-v-juneau-associates-inc-pc-ilsd-2004.