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COOK COUNTY RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Former deacon of Niles church lodges defamation suit against members

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A former deacon of Lakeview Presbyterian Church in Niles is suing a group of church members he claims spread lies about him.

Chang Hyun Moon filed a lawsuit May 19 in the Cook County Circuit Court against nearly two dozen people, citing defamation, false light invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Moon claims he has been a member and deacon of the church for 28 years and that the defendants published false statements about him to a third party that he verbally threatened to report the details of church members' offerings to the IRS.

According to the suit, the Korean community is a culture of honor and the lies spread about Moon caused damage to his reputation and his wife to file for the dissolution of their marriage.

Moon is seeking damages in the amount of $100,000. He is being represented in the case by Waukegan attorney Thomas M. Gurewitz of Law Office of Thomas M. Gurewitz.

This marks at least the second suit filed this month in Cook County Circuit Court involving defamation claims brought by a former church leader against members of a church. Gus Bageanis filed the first May 16 against members of Emmanuel Bible Church and others.

Moon's suit lists the following individuals as defendants: Seo Chul, Kang Jun Liu, Du Sae Yi, Kyung Ja Kim, Kyung Ja Park, Kyung Jin Park, Soon Kyu Choi, Ki Sook Liu, Jae Ho Lee, Ahn Ok Choi, In Won Jin, Jung Rye Park, Il Kook Chung, Chik Ja Lee, Ok Sik Seo, Eui Nam Park, Chun Hyo Park, Sa Soon Chung, Min Koo Lee, Yong Woon Seo, Soon Gil Park and Sae Jung Kim.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L005343.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed at the Cook County Courthouse. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.

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