A Homer Township man who has waged a six-year fight with state officials over what he alleges are “numerous violations of federal and state laws” filed a federal lawsuit last week seeking to block the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority from removing more homes and businesses in the path of the proposed Interstate Highway 355 extension.
The civil rights lawsuit, filed in federal District Court in Chicago by John Walliser of 16246 W. 143rd St., comes on the heels of last week’s Federal Highway Administration environmental approval of the project.
Toll authority spokesman David Loveday said tollway attorneys had not seen the lawsuit as of Tuesday. The defendants named in the four-count, $4 million lawsuit include state Transportation Secretary Kirk Brown and tollway Chairman Julian D’Esposito.
Walliser, the owner of a home building firm, said he hopes to stymie construction of the tollway from Bolingbrook to New Lenox. He filed the lawsuit on his own behalf and, claiming financial problems as a result of the running legal battle with the Illinois Department of Transportation, is asking for a court-appointed attorney.
Walliser contends that the state mishandled the 1991 purchase of his home and that that has driven him to the brink of bankruptcy.
