Top La Grange village officials and a former business association president last summer violated the civil rights of a pawnbroker and his landlord as zoning changes were hastily drafted and enacted to prevent him from opening for business in a downtown storefront, according to two federal lawsuits filed earlier this month.
Andrew Grayson last July stands in front of the storefront where he hoped to open an upscale pawn shop.
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Andrew Grayson, of Berwyn, and Fifth Avenue Property Management, allege in separate but largely identical complaints that they were denied equal protection and due process for property rights guaranteed them under the U.S. and Illinois Constitutions.
The violations resulted when Grayson was illegally denied a building permit for his pawn shop, and when his a business license he legally obtained was revoked without a required notice and hearing, the complaints allege.
Each lawsuit seeks an amount greater than $75,000 "for all monetary losses suffered by Plaintiffs" and further seeks punitive damages. Both complaints demand a jury trial.
Named as a defendants in both suits are the village, as a municipal corporation, as well three individual community leaders: Village President Elizabeth Asperger; Robert Pilipiszyn; and Michael LaPidus, president of the La Grange Business Association at the time the alleged violations occurred.
Grayson's suit, filed June 9, further names the seven village trustees as individual defendants.
View a PDF copy of Grayson's complaint.
Fifth Avenue, proprietor and manager of the storefront Grayson sought to occupy at 71 S La Grange Rd, is joined in its suit, filed July 13, by Oxford Bank & Trust, which is believed to manage a trust in which the property is held.
View a PDF copy of Fifth Avenue's complaint.
Both complaints also allege a conspiracy violation of Illinois Common Law, contending that Asperger, Pilipiszyn and LaPidus "agreed or reached a mutual understanding to commit acts against Plaintiffs to prevent them from exercising their property rights."
Plaintiffs Grayson and Fifth Avenue legally obtained and secured those property rights in May of last year when Grayson applied for and was granted a business license for his pawn shop under the name of All Star Jewelry & Loan, the complaints allege.
Village Manager Pilipiszyn personally reviewed Grayson's application and determined that it had been properly completed, and that his proposed pawn shop met all state and local laws and regulations, the suits said.
In approving the business license , Pilipiszyn "made a use interpretation, pursuant to the authority delegated him under the La Grange Zoning Code, that the [pawnshop's] Resale Use was permitted in the C-1 Central Commercial District under the La Grange Zoning Code.," the complaints contend.
The village, on or about May 22, "properly issued Grayson a business license, signed by Asperger, authorizing the operation of a Resale Use at the Property," the complaints said.
The plaintiffs contend that, according to the La Grange Business Licensing Code, Grayson's license could only be revoked "for cause, after notice and hearing."
They say village officials held no such hearing, thereby denying Grayson and Fifth Avenue their right to due process, the complaints contend.
Instead, Grayson's business license was revoked after the village board of trustees July 13 adopted amendments to the village zoning codes that prohibited pawnshops from operating in the C-1 downtown district, but allowed other types of resale shops to exist there, the complaints state.
In doing so, village officials established no rational basis for specifically discriminating against pawnshops, acting arbitrarily, and thereby violated the plaintiffs rights to equal protection, the complaints contend.
Under the newly adopted zoning amendments, Grayson's plans for a pawnshop would have been allowed to proceed under a "grandfather" provision if he already had obtained a building permit or certificate of occupancy, the complaints state.
But village officials illegally withheld without cause a building permit for which Grayson applied, on or about June 12, further denying him equal protection under the law, the complaints allege.
At the time Grayson applied for a building permit, village officials were under "extensive pressure" from LaPidus, several village business owners, and several residents to prevent Grayson from opening his business, the complaints state.
Some of the pawn shop's objectors learned of Grayson's plans from a sign he put in the window of his storefront, on or about May 30, advertising his new business, the plaintiffs said. Other objectors learned about the planned pawn shop from en email LaPidus sent to LGBA members urging them to attend an "Urgent Meeting" on June 11.
In the email, LaPidus "disparaged Grayson's business and the lease arrangement and valid business opportunity," the complaints said.
A "Pawn Shop does not compliment the businesses and restaurants we have in town and will never, no matter how 'upscale' it looks be a business others will look at positively when starting [a business in] or relocating to La Grange," the complaints quote from the email.
At the subsequent meeting, LaPidus "urged those in attendance to 'band together' to cause the Village to amend its zoning code 'to eliminate the existence of a Pawn Shop category,'" the lawsuits state.
The plaintiffs contend that "the proposed work [described in Grayson's building permit] did not implicate the La Grange Zoning Code. Rather the proposed work included [...] installation/relocation of non[load]bearing walls/partitions, installation of fixtures, wiring and plumbing--all matters outside the La Grange Zoning Code regulations."
Consequently, the plaintiffs allege, village officials had no rational basis for withholding Grayson a building permit, but instead were stalling for time to prepare and gain approval of the zoning amendments.
While the application was pending, "LaPidus, Asperger, Pilipiszyn, and other Village Trustees conspired to formulate a plan which would prevent Grayson from operating [...] despite the fact that the Resale Use was being made upon issuance of the Business License--and in effect, depriving and preventing Plaintiffs from leasing the Property to Grayson," Fifth Avenue's suit alleges.
A status hearing on Grayson's suit is scheduled for Aug. 23 at 9 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Suzanne B. Conlon.
A hearing on Fifth Avenue's complaint is scheduled for Sept. 17 at 9:30 a.m before Judge Elaine Bucklo.
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