Company claims Oak Park lawyer's alleged malpractice cost it more than $500K

A Niles company is suing an Oak Park lawyer over claims his alleged malpractice prevented it from being able to file a lawsuit to collect the more than half a million dollars it was owed for a project.

Kultur Flooring USA Inc., an Illinois corporation, filed a legal malpractice lawsuit Nov. 19 in Cook County Circuit Court against Law Offices of J. David Ballinger and James David Ballinger, individually.

According to the complaint, Kultur entered into an oral contract on Nov. 25, 2009 with Estate Hardwood Flooring Corp. to install flooring in Walton on the Park South, a real estate development containing about 200 condominiums at 2 West Delaware in Chicago.

In November 2010, Kultur claims it completed its work on the project and Estate Hardwood agreed to pay it $592,141.99. It made the first payments, but still allegedly owes $507,784.09, according to the suit.

Kultur hired Ballinger and his firm to collect that amount from Estate Hardwood, which the suit states was a subcontractor to Lend Lease USA Construction Inc. on the flooring project and is now a bankrupt and defunct entity.

Ballinger, according to the suit, agreed to prepare a mechanics' lien claim against the property and recorded it Feb. 17, 2011 with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds' office.

Kultur alleges it then retained Bryce Downey & Lenkov as counsel and filed a lawsuit on Nov. 16, 2012 to collect the funds owed, but the court on Feb. 6, 2014 apparently found the mechanics' lien claim had been not properly verified and dismissed the case.

The plaintiff seeks damages in excess of $500,00,0 plus court costs, and is represented by attorneys Ioana Salajanu and Tina M. Paries from Bryce Downey & Lenkov in Chicago.

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