Murawski v. Reid

375 F. Supp. 3d 998
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Illinois
DecidedApril 12, 2019
DocketCase No. 16 C 9006
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 375 F. Supp. 3d 998 (Murawski v. Reid) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Murawski v. Reid, 375 F. Supp. 3d 998 (illinoised 2019).

Opinion

Harry D. Leinenweber, Judge

Defendants, Conservation Police Officers Nicholas Reid and David Wollgast (collectively the "Defendants" or "Defendant Officers"), move for summary judgment. For the reasons stated herein, Defendants' Motion (Dkt. No. 34) is granted.

I. BACKGROUND

The following facts are undisputed unless designated otherwise. Plaintiff William Murawski ("Murawski") is a detective with the Chicago Police Department (Pl.'s Resp. to Defs.' Stmt. of Facts ("SOF") ¶ 1, Dkt. No. 44.) He is also a member of the Wilmington Recreation Club (the "WRC")-a not-for-profit organization that owns and manages recreational property in Wilmington, Illinois. (SOF ¶ 2.) The WRC and John Weitendorf ("Weitendorf") own all the land adjacent to an artificial lake at issue in this case. (Defs.' Resp. to Pl.'s Stmt. of Additional Facts ("SOAF") ¶ 1, Dkt. No. 52.) The lake was created over 50 *1001years ago after strip mining operations ceased and the strip-mining pit was filled in with water. (SOAF ¶ 3; SOF ¶ 4.) The lake is part of a water channel that is at least 4.7 miles long. (SOAF ¶ 4.) Water flows into and out of the lake through drainage culverts. (SOAF ¶ 5.) Defendants contend, however, that such water flow does not occur consistently, only at times; for example, after heavy rain. (Id. )

The WRC owns at least a portion of this lake. (SOF ¶ 4.) Pursuant to his WRC membership, Murawski maintained a dock on the lake and had permission to boat and fish on at least this portion of the lake. (SOAF ¶ 2.) The parties dispute, however, whether Weitendorf also owns a portion of the lake, and, if so, whether Murawski had permission to boat and fish on that portion of the lake. (SOF ¶ 4.) Weitendorf's property is surrounded by a six-foot-high fence, which continues across the water of the lake on an overhead cable. (SOF ¶ 5.) This fence separated the lake into two parts for over 40 years. (Id. ) Sometime during the summer of 2015, a tornado damaged the fence, creating a hole large enough for a boat to pass through. (Id. ) Despite acknowledging the existence of such a fence, Murawski disputes that the fence delineated a portion of the lake as belonging solely to Weitendorf. (Id. ) With this backdrop in mind, the Court proceeds with an overview of the incident and subsequent investigation leading up to Murawski's arrest and criminal prosecution, all of which form the basis of this civil lawsuit.

A. Incident and Investigation

On September 17, 2015, Murawski and a male companion went boating and fishing out on the lake. (SOF ¶ 7.) Weitendorf observed the two, got on a boat, and approached them. (Id. ) He informed the men that they were trespassing on his private property and asked them to leave. (SOF ¶ 8.) Murawski refused, responding that he had a right to fish on that portion of the lake. (Id. ) The following day, Weitendorf called Defendant Officer Reid of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police to report the alleged trespass. (SOF ¶ 11.) Weitendorf then followed up by sending Officer Reid a letter summarizing his statement of the incident and attaching a photograph of Murawski in the boat on what Weitendorf purports was his portion of the lake. (SOF ¶ 12.) His lawyer also sent a letter to Officer Reid, which stated that Weitendorf was the legal owner of that portion of the lake and included a copy of the deed and legal description for Weitendorf's property. (SOF ¶ 13.) Thereafter, Officer Reid began his investigation into the incident.

On September 19, 2015, Officer Reid met with Weitendorf and WRC's manager, Brad Southall ("Southall"). (SOF ¶ 14.) In that meeting, Southall identified Murawski as one of the occupants of the boat in the photograph Weitendorf took, and informed Officer Reid that the WRC's rules prohibit members from crossing through the fence to fish on Weitendorf's side of the lake. (SOF ¶ 15.) Later in his deposition, however, Southall admitted that his latter statement was probably an "unwritten rule," and to insinuate the rule as anything more than that was "an incorrect statement" and "an assumption that [he] should not have made." (Brad Southall Dep. 91:20-24; 92:1-14, Ex. 4 to Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J., Dkt. No. 31-4.)

On September 29, 2019, Weitendorf called Defendant Officer Wollgast, also of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police, to report that someone had cut the fence marking the boundary between his side of the lake and that of the WRC's. (SOF ¶ 16.) Officer Wollgast's investigation of the incident was inconclusive, though he did discover that *1002someone had used channel locks to cut the fence down entirely. (SOF ¶ 17.)

Officer Wollgast later reached out to and interviewed Murawski, who confirmed that he had been on Weitendorf's side of the lake on September 17, 2015. (SOF ¶¶ 18-19.) In the interview, Murawski asserted that the lake was part of a watercourse since there was drainage into and out of the lake through a culvert. (SOF ¶ 20.) As such, Murawski believed he had riparian rights to boat and fish on any portion of the lake. (SOF ¶¶ 20-21.) He later sent Officer Wollgast two Illinois state court opinions addressing riparian rights: Beacham v. Lake Zurich Prop. Owners Ass'n , 123 Ill.2d 227, 122 Ill.Dec. 14, 526 N.E.2d 154 (1988), and LWL Land Trust v. Werner , 2011 IL App (5th) 100100-U, 2011 WL 10500890 . (SOF ¶ 21.) Both Officer Wollgast and Officer Reid reviewed some aspect of these opinions, in addition to a more recent Illinois Supreme Court case addressing riparian rights: Alderson v. Fatlan , 372 Ill.App.3d 300, 311 Ill.Dec. 95, 867 N.E.2d 1081 (2007). (SOF ¶ 23; SOAF ¶¶ 16-18.) Officer Reid also consulted with a tax assessor to ascertain that Weitendorf owned the portion of the lake in dispute. (SOF ¶ 24.) Based on the foregoing, Officers Reid and Wollgast reported to the Will County State's Attorney's Office and recommended that the Office file charges against Murawski for trespassing. (SOF ¶ 25; SOAF ¶ 32.)

B. Arrest and Criminal Prosecution

Defendant Officers' report to the State's Attorney's Office included Weitendorf's signed statement; the legal deed and description of Weitendorf's property; a summary or copy of the aforementioned cases pertaining to riparian rights; and various photographs and other materials.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Untitled Case
S.D. Illinois, 2026
Blaszak v. Kane County
N.D. Illinois, 2020

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
375 F. Supp. 3d 998, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murawski-v-reid-illinoised-2019.