CHICAGO — A federal appeals panel upheld a federal judge's finding against the owners of a hookah bar in the village of Worth, who claimed village officials targeted them in a case of political retaliation.
The dispute dates to 2018 when Isam Samara and Muwafak Rizek, and their business legally known as FKFJ, a restaurant and hookah lounge sued the village of Worth, Village President Mary Werner, Police Chief Mark Micetich and several unnamed police officers, alleging harassment in retaliation for supporting Randy Keller’s bid to unseat Werner as village president.
In January 2019 U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso rejected a motion to dismiss, but by that December the village defendants sought sanctions because the plaintiffs hadn’t produced requested documents. Alonso ultimately entered summary judgment in favor of the village, declining to allow FKFJ's state law claims to continue in federal court. FKFJ brought the issue to the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, challenging only Alonso's judgment on their First Amendment, equal protection and due process claims.
John W. Patton Jr.
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Seventh Circuit Judge Daniel Manion wrote the opinion, issued Aug. 26; Judges Michael Scudder and Thomas Kirsch concurred.
“When viewed in the light most favorable to FKFJ, there is evidence Werner had some sort of animus against Rizek and Samara,” Manion wrote. “Based on that animus, a factfinder could infer Werner also possessed ill-will toward their business.”
However, the panel continued, it’s not enough to demonstrate Werner’s personal feelings. FKFJ also needed to show a link between its political support of Keller and something Werner did in response.
“The only genuine evidence FKFJ presents to show animus is based on the protected activity is suspicious timing,” Manion wrote. “But that argument fails.”
FKFJ alleged Werner’s attitude changed after it began to support Keller, but doesn’t allege Werner knew of that support, which the panel said made it impossible for a jury to link her conduct. Furthermore, the panel said, FKFJ hosted campaign events from October 2016 through March 2017. That month it obtained a permit to demolish a house.
If Werner did have any influence in delaying a special use permit, that didn’t happen until June or July 2017, when FKFJ submitted its application. Werner argued she actually helped accelerate the permit process by assisting FKFJ’s effort to obtain a variance.
Allegations about retaliatory ticketing also failed, the panel said, because FKFJ’s allegations concerned conduct that didn’t begin until May 2017. There’s no evidence Werner herself directed the ticketing, the judges found. Allegations about renewing a business license involved a conversation roughly six months after the last campaign event.
“While it is clear from Rizek’s and Samara’s testimony that they believe Werner is the reason they went out of business and she intentionally tried to drive them out of town,” Manion wrote, “they have failed to present evidence to support their beliefs.”
The panel said FKFJ’s equal protection claims also suffered. While the hookah bar owners said other businesses had escaped citations for gravel parking lots, the owners' allegations lack specificity. Rather, the record contains “undisputed evidence of a rational basis for each action the village took.”
FKFJ’s due process claim failed, the panel said, because it couldn’t demonstrate an entitlement to having a business license renewed. The village has discretion over renewals, and although FKFJ alleged it wasn’t even allowed to apply for renewal, that doesn’t change the underlying absence of a constitutional right the village actively denied.
“This case is a tapestry of colorful factual threads,” Manion wrote in conclusion. “Whatever occurred between FKFJ and the village, FKFJ has failed to present sufficient evidence from which a jury could find the disputes are of constitutional import.”
FKFJ has been represented in the matter by attorney Brendan Shiller, of the firm of Shiller Preyar Jarard & Samuels, of Chicago.
Worth and the defendant village officials have been represented by attorneys John W. Patton, Jr. David F. Ryan and Katherine M. Kuhn, of the firm of Patton & Ryan, of Chicago.