An appeals panel has ruled a Chicago judge was right to grant an eviction, despite Gov. JB Pritzker's former moratorium on evictions in Illinois, because of alleged threats a tenant directed at a landlord.
Justice Thomas Hoffman wrote the Jan. 28 decision, with concurrence from Justices Maureen Connors and Joy Cunningham, of Illinois First District Appellate Court. The decision was filed under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23, which may limit its use as precedent.
According to the ruling, in September 2020, TG leased a coach house on Wilson Avenue in Chicago to MB. Part of the agreement was no one besides MB would live in the home. However, MB let a person, idenfitied as BG, stay on the premises without securing TG's consent, according to TG. As a consequence, on March 29, 2021, TG gave MB 30 days to leave the house, telling him to take BG with him.
The situation then deteriorated, according to TG.
BG phoned him, allegedly threatening to slit her wrists and throat, bleed all over the premises and turn it into a "suicide house," if TG pushed ahead with the eviction. In response, TG said he told MB to get out in 10 days. MB and BG then allegedly left phone messages and sent texts that made thinly veiled threats to TG and his wife. BG, who is not a lawyer, next allegedly called TG's attorney, holding herself out as MB's attorney.
MB and BG refused to leave and demanded a trial. In the meantime, April slipped into May without MB paying rent those two months, court papers said.
On May 10, a bench trial began before Judge Perla Tirado, with MB and BG representing themselves.
At one point in the trial, MB addressed Tirado, saying, "I just think this is absurd. You got people out there who are thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars who owe rent. You got witchcraft, gunshot."
Tirado granted TG's request for eviction. Tirado found that because of the alleged threats and harassment, safety concerns existed, making the case an exception to Pritzker's moratorium on evictions. Pritzker instituted the moratorium in March 2020, saying the measure was needed to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The governor kept the moratorium in place for a year-and-a-half, allowing landlords to evict only if a tenant is a threat to others and poses a risk to the property.
The eviction in this case was enforced June 3. Tirado also ordered MB to pay $3,997 to TG for unpaid rent and legal costs.
MB and BG appealed. They continued representing themselves. They did not elect to make oral arguments to the appellate court.
MB and BG alleged violations of Chicago's Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance. They also claimed their right to due process, afforded by the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, had been breached.
Justice Hoffman threw out these claims on grounds MB and BG did not bring them up during the bench trial.
"Defendants were given ample opportunity to raise their arguments in the circuit court. The defendants filed an answer to the plaintiff’s complaint. They were present at trial, and given the opportunity to speak, testify, and present witnesses. It is well-established that self-represented litigants are held to the same standards as one represented by counsel. We therefore reject the defendants’ contention that they should be held to a lower standard because they elected to represent themselves in these proceedings," Hoffman observed.
MB and BG also contended TG "provoked us in perjury [sic] himself and misled his attorneys in order to bring us to eviction outside the Governor’s order.”
Hoffman again found the pair's arguments "vague and unsupported by citation to authority." He also concluded the evidence supported TG's contention MB and BG endangered TG and others, as well as the property.
Hoffman affirmed the circuit court's decision to authorize eviction and deny MB and BG their request TG pay them $35,000 for their expenses in moving out of the house.