The City of Chicago v. Ramirez

852 N.E.2d 312, 366 Ill. App. 3d 935
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 22, 2006
Docket1-04-0630 Rel
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 852 N.E.2d 312 (The City of Chicago v. Ramirez) 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
The City of Chicago v. Ramirez, 852 N.E.2d 312, 366 Ill. App. 3d 935 (Ill. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

JUSTICE MURPHY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Julio Ramirez appeals from orders of the circuit court denying his motions to (1) vacate a judgment in favor of plaintiff City of Chicago (City) ordering the demolition of a building (building) on the premises at 2851 West 25th Street in Chicago (premises); and (2) enforce a settlement agreement between Ramirez and the City. Ramirez contends that the trial court erred in denying his motions.

FACTS

In June 2002, the City filed a complaint for equitable relief seeking injunctive relief — an order that the building be either repaired or demolished — and civil penalties on the grounds that the building was dangerous and unsafe and that it constituted a nuisance. The defendants in the complaint were Luis Carrillo as owner of the premises, Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. (Countrywide), as mortgagee, Jorge Vega as the last-known taxpayer of record, any unknown owners of the premises, and any nonrecorded claimants.

Defendants Carrillo and Countrywide were duly served with summonses, and Countrywide appeared. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) petitioned for leave to intervene as the new owners of the premises. On September 6, 2002, the trial court issued an order finding Carrillo in default and dismissing Vega from the case without costs. Publication notice was ordered for the unknown owners and claimants.

On November 15, 2002, the trial court granted HUD leave to intervene, and HUD entered its appearance that same day. The court also entered a “protective order” providing in relevant part that Countrywide was a mere mortgagee of the premises, that Countrywide had no objection to demolition of the building, and that “affirmative relief’ would not be sought against Countrywide without prior written notice to its attorneys. The court ordered Countrywide to pay the City $309 in litigation costs. The unknown owners and claimants, having received publication notice, were found to be in default.

On November 26, 2002, the City issued a release of judgment against Countrywide upon its payment of the $309 in costs.

On January 10, 2003, the court ordered that the City could conduct an interior inspection of the building and that HUD must permit and attend the inspection. On March 21, 2003, the court ordered HUD to “secure and keep secure the entire subject property.”

On April 15, 2003, the trial court issued an “order of demolition by consent.” The order recited that all defendants except for HUD and Countrywide had default orders entered against them “which ha[ve] not been challenged.” The court found that the building was “dangerous, unsafe, and beyond reasonable repair” due to an enumerated list of problems including damaged plumbing and electrical systems, loose exterior masonry, broken windows and doors, broken interior walls, and damaged floors. The court recited that HUD, as owner of the premises, agreed that the City was authorized to demolish the building after June 20, 2003, without further notice unless the parties reached a consent decree before that date. HUD agreed to monitor the premises daily and “to secure and keep secure the building,” until further order of court. The City’s claims for civil penalties were voluntarily dismissed without prejudice, but the order recited that the City was “entitled to a lien for the costs of demolition [and] court costs” if the City demolished the building. The order also provided that, “[p]ursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 304(a), this is a final and appealable order. The Court finds no just reason for delay in enforcement or appeal of this judgment.” The court expressly retained jurisdiction to enforce the order and “for the purpose of ascertaining the demolition and litigation costs *** if the City demolishes the building.”

In late July 2003, Ramirez filed a motion to stay the demolition, stating that he was the new owner of the premises, claiming that HUD had not informed him of the instant civil action before it sold him the premises, and seeking a stay of the demolition order until he “is able to obtain permits and bring [the] property to Code.” The court denied the motion without prejudice on August 8, 2003.

In mid-August 2003, Ramirez filed an appearance and motion to intervene, stating that he was the new owner of the premises and arguing that no party presently in the case could represent his interest in barring the demolition of the building. Ramirez also filed an emergency motion to stay the demolition order pending a hearing on his substantive motion to reconsider. Lastly, Ramirez filed a motion to reconsider “the judgment of April 15, 2003,” in which he recited that the court denied his earlier motion to stay demolition on the grounds that it was filed more than 30 days after the final judgment of April 15, 2003. Ramirez argued that the April 15 order was not final and appealable because the City’s claim for money judgment was not resolved in that order. Ramirez also argued that the court would be denying Ramirez substantive justice, and thus abusing its discretion, if it did not vacate or stay the demolition order.

On August 18, 2003, the trial court issued orders (1) granting Ramirez leave to intervene, (2) staying the demolition order, and (3) giving the City seven days to respond to Ramirez’s motion to reconsider. On August 26, 2003, the stay order was continued to October 17, 2003.

In September 2003, the City filed a motion to reconsider the order granting Ramirez leave to intervene, arguing that Ramirez had provided no evidence that he was the new owner of the premises and that his motion for intervention was untimely filed. On the latter point, the City argued that Ramirez filed his first motion to stay the demolition on July 28, 2003, only one day after he purchased the premises from HUD, and that Ramirez as the owner of the premises had constructive notice since the City filed lis pendens on June 13, 2002.

Ramirez responded to the City’s motion, arguing that the demolition order was an interlocutory order because it did not resolve the issue of how much compensation the City was due for demolition and court costs. He also argued that the order was not a final judgment because the trial court had entered only orders of default, rather than default judgments, against the other defendants. Ramirez also argued that he was the owner of the premises, stating in his response that he was attaching a copy of the deed. However, the copy of Ramirez’s response in the record on appeal does not include such an attachment. Lastly, he argued that the filing of a lis pendens does not bar intervention by subsequent purchasers of the land in question.

In October 2003, Ramirez filed a “motion to enforce settlement.” The motion did not specify under what section of the Code of Civil Procedure it was filed. In sum, Ramirez alleged that he complied with the City’s routine requirements for a consent decree in building code violation cases. He admitted that he and the City had not executed a written settlement agreement but argued that a contract or agreement can be reached by a “meeting of the minds” supported by consideration. Specifically, Ramirez alleged that, on August 20, 2003, he filed with the City an application for a consent decree.

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Bluebook (online)
852 N.E.2d 312, 366 Ill. App. 3d 935, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-city-of-chicago-v-ramirez-illappct-2006.