A woman, who says she is undergoing treatment for brain tumors and severe illness, has sued the village of Oak Lawn, claiming village officials have subjected her to a range of nuisances in her home from the neighboring public works facility in retribution for refusing to accept “lowball” offers from the village for her home.
On April 13, Wendy Walker filed a complaint in Cook County Circuit Court against the village, seeking more than $100,000 from the village, because she alleged the village is “creating and maintaining numerous nuisances” that have caused her to suffer physically and mentally.
The complaint stems from a dispute between Walker and the village of Oak Lawn, allegedly over her refusal to sell her home to the village at a price the village government allegedly offered.
According to the complaint, Walker has lived in the village for 28 years. About eight years ago, the complaint said, Walker was diagnosed with a degenerative condition that has “left her bedridden.” A year later, she was diagnosed with “an inoperable brain tumor.”
After years of treatments, the complaint said “she could no longer live comfortably in her home, and, as a result, decided to sell her home,” moved to place it on the market in 2018.
At that time, the complaint said Oak Lawn’s former village manager “approached Walker about the possibility of the village purchasing her property,” as part of an effort to purchase her and all surrounding properties to expand the village’s neighboring public works facility.
According to the complaint, Walker agreed to pull the home off the market and allow the village to appraise the property and make an offer.
Eventually, the village appraised the property at $315,000, a figure nearly $100,000 less than what Walker believed the property was worth. To back that view, the complaint said she presented the village with an “in-depth market analysis demonstrating that her property was worth over $400,000.”
In 2019, the village began to purchase other properties on Walker’s block. Walker claimed the former village manager offered to purchase the property for $373,000, but that offer was never formalized and the process was put on hold when the village manager resigned, following a traffic accident.
The new village manager in early 2020 allegedly again offered $315,000, and after Walker declined, obtained a new appraisal for $295,000. She said that appraisal was now influenced by the deteriorating conditions of the surrounding properties, which were all owned by the village and which she said were left unkempt, and which was “riddled with inaccuracies.”
Walker then said she obtained a new appraisal for $390,000, prompting the village to offer $340,000.
When Walker again refused the offer, the complaint asserts the village then began what she characterized as a campaign of retribution. She claimed the village has refused to maintain the surrounding vacant homes and properties.
She asserted the village further began idling its public works trucks “directly behind Walker’s home, causing loud noises and exhaust fumes to wake and disturb her.”
She further alleged the village’s public works workers have awoken her with repeated loud alarms; subjected her to “loud, incessant banging;” and has been “constantly churning salt, road debris, and other debris, causing dust to invade Walker’s property.”
She said this year marked the first time in 28 years her property has been subjected to “noxious fumes” from the village’s public works yard.
Walker’s complaint specifically has accused the village of noise violations and nuisance.
She is represented in the action by attorneys David A. Eisenberg and Alexander Loftus, of the firm of Loftus & Eisenberg, of Chicago.