A Northbrook developer’s claim that Highland Park officials reneged on a deal to develop the Highland Park Country Club into upscale housing is bound again for a Lake County Court.
The case is headed back before a judge as a result of a ruling by an Illinois Appellate Court panel reinstating the lawsuit, which has been dismissed three times.
“It looks like this will finally be heard by a jury on its merits,” said Margaret Borcia, a lawyer for the developer, Bill Spatz.
“Highland Park has done everything possible to keep this from getting to a jury,” she said.
In sending the case back to the lower court, the appeals court said that while the statute of limitations had expired on one count, two other counts were still viable.
Michael Rothstein, one of Highland Park’s lawyers, said the city still denies “any validity at all to the allegations in the complaint.”
He said Highland Park might ask the Appellate Court to reconsider its decision or ask the Illinois Supreme Court to review the case.
“We think that the Appellate Court should have affirmed the dismissal of the complaint,” Rothstein said.
The litigious tale of Bill Spatz, president of River Park Inc., began in February 1993 when he filed a $70 million damage suit in federal court against the City of Highland Park.
Spatz claimed his company, which owned the property, was denied “due process” in its attempt to obtain a rezoning permit from the city to build 147 homes on 34 acres of the 160-acre country club.
Spatz said his company was forced into bankruptcy and foreclosure proceedings and lost more than a $1 million due to the city’s actions.
Borcia said Highland Park did not want Spatz to develop the land. Instead of taking the proper procedures and paying Spatz compensation, she said, city officials drove him into bankruptcy while they negotiated with LaSalle National Bank of Chicago to acquire the property for less than half its value.
Part of the property later was sold to another developer–Northbrook-based Red Seal Development Corp.–for housing similar to what Spatz originally proposed.
Highland Park initially filed a motion to dismiss the federal lawsuit because it claimed no federal laws were violated. The federal court agreed, and dismissed the lawsuit.
Spatz later filed a similar case in Lake County Circuit Court.
Highland Park again succeeded in getting the lawsuit dismissed, and again, Spatz appealed.
The Appellate Court handed Spatz a partial victory, saying the lawsuit could proceed in Circuit Court on three counts alleging an abuse of governmental power, breach of contract and that Highland Park had wrongfully interfered with Spatz’s business prospects.
Highland Park again succeeded in getting the case dismissed by claiming the earlier dismissal by the federal court meant the case couldn’t be brought again in state court. The city successfully claimed that as a government entity, it was immune from such a lawsuit.
