CHICAGO — A tenant has filed a class action lawsuit against Stonebridge of Arlington Heights and The Connor Group, alleging a violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud & Deceptive Business Practices Act and other alleged illegal activities.
Rohan Goel filed a complaint on behalf of himself and others on Aug. 30 in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging the defendants routinely secretly shifted the cost of maintaining common areas of the property to tenants, and allegedly mishandled their security deposits.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that, between March 14 and May 11, he ended his tenancy with Stonebridge and received a "final account statement" that he disputed.
The plaintiff alleges the defendants charged tenants for utilities they weren't allowed to charge for under the Tenant Utility Payment Disclosure Act and allegedly mishandled and improperly withheld money from tenants' security deposits.
The defendants also are accused of failing to pay interest on security deposits, and keeping portions of tenants' deposits to cover the cost of repairing alleged damage without providing receipts substantiating the alleged repair costs.
Furthermore, defendants allegedly kept part of the plaintiff's security deposit: to pay alleged repair costs he did not owe, according to the complaint. He also claims the defendants claim to use his security deposit to cover utility charges he had already paid, even after he gave them documentary proof demonstrating he had paid the charges.
The plaintiff seeks an amount equal to all utility charges defendants illegally demanded from plaintiff and the class, and an amount equal to twice the amount of plaintiffs and each class member's security deposits due. Plaintiff also seeks for the amount of $234.76 plus attorneys' fees and costs. He is represented by Michael S. Hilicki of Keogh Law Ltd. in Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court Case number 2018CH11015