Michael v. Letchinger
| Decision Date | 05 August 2011 |
| Docket Number | 10 C 3897 |
| Parties | GEORGE S. MICHAEL, SUSAN MICHAEL, DOROTHY MICHAEL, and ROBERT C. MICHAEL, Plaintiffs, v. CHRISTINE LETCHINGER, R. DREW IRVIN, GERALD NELLESSEN, PETER FRIEDMAN, KATHLEEN O'HARA, BRIAN HAMER, SUSAN GARRETT, and the VILLAGE OF LAKE BLUFF, a municipality, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiffs George, Susan, Dorothy, and Robert Michael filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Defendants—the Village of Lake Bluff, several village officials, a state senator, and the Director of the Illinois Department of Revenue—committed state law torts and violated their rights under the United States Constitution. Defendants have filed four motions to dismiss, which are granted in part and denied in part.
The facts alleged in the complaint, which spans 76 pages and 253 paragraphs, are assumed true on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. See Reger Dev., LLC v. Nat'l City Bank, 592 F.3d 759, 763 (7th Cir. 2010). Also pertinent at the Rule 12(b)(6) stage are documents "referred to in [the] complaint" that are attached to the motions to dismiss and central to Plaintiffs' claims. Wright v. Associated Ins. Cos., Inc., 29 F.3d 1244, 1248 (7th Cir. 1994). Any variance between the complaint's allegations and an exhibit is resolved in the exhibit's favor. See Forrest v. UniversalSav. Bank, F.A., 507 F.3d 540, 542 (7th Cir. 2007). Orders entered and filings made in other courts are properly subject to judicial notice. See United States v. Stevens, 500 F.3d 625, 628 n.4 (7th Cir. 2007).
Plaintiffs are George Michael and Susan Michael, a married couple; their daughter, Dorothy Michael; and Robert Michael, George's brother. The Michaels will be referred to by their first names. Defendants are the Village of Lake Bluff; Christine Letchinger, the Village President; R. Drew Irvin, the Village Building Commissioner; Peter Friedman, the Village Attorney; Gerald Nellessen, the Village Building Code Supervisor; Kathleen O'Hara, a Village Trustee and also a coordinator at Lake Forest High School, which Dorothy attended; Brian Hamer, the Director of the Illinois Department of Revenue; and Susan Garrett, the state senator whose district encompasses the Village.
George and Susan purchased a lakeside home with a private beach in Lake Bluff, Illinois, in October 2003. Susan suffers from multiple sclerosis and autonomic dysfunction—a condition that causes her blood pressure to drop when subjected to stress—and had been encouraged by her physician to live near the water. Lake Bluff had the additional benefit of offering Dorothy, who is mentally disabled and shows signs of early-stage multiple sclerosis, access to schools with specialized facilities and curricula. George, Susan and Dorothy, as well as Robert, who at all relevant times resided in Chicago, are of Armenian descent and adhere to the Armenian Orthodox faith.
In October 2003, when the Michaels acquired the home, the property taxes were $27,000 per year. Before moving in, the Michaels built a pool, a rehabilitation room, a racquetball court, and two additional bedrooms. The property was reassessed in 2004, resulting in an increase inthe Michaels' property taxes to $87,000 per year, among the highest in Lake Bluff. Soon thereafter, the Michaels decided to convert their racquetball court into an Armenian Orthodox church. According to the complaint, the travel required to attend the Armenian Orthodox church on the far west side of Chicago was compromising Susan's health.
To give Susan's "foreshortened days as much grace" as possible, the complaint alleges, the family hired an architect, Harry Burroughs, and a contractor, Philip Orzech, to begin work on the project. Doc. 1 at ¶¶ 30-31. In September 2004, Burroughs submitted drawings of a proposed chapel, cathedral room, and pastor's study to the Village in an effort to determine if a zoning variance was necessary. Pursuant to a Village policy, Burroughs was not given a receipt for delivery of the drawings. Four sets of revised plans were delivered to the Village at various points in 2005 but, as with the first submission, no receipts were provided. Burroughs was told by a Village official that if a zoning variance was required, the Michaels would receive notice. When the family did not hear from the Village by January 2007, they began work on the chapel. George enrolled in an online program with the Church of Spiritual Humanism, see http://www.spiritualhumanism.org, paid a modest fee, and obtained a clergy license.
On March 22, 2007, after the chapel's construction was complete, the Michaels conveyed their home by quit-claim deem, without charge, to the Armenian Church of Lake Bluff ("Church"), an incorporated entity created by George and Susan. The Michaels continued to live in the home, and opened the Church to "public" services presided over by George. On April 10, 2007, the Michaels sought a property tax exemption from the Lake County Assessor's Office; the application averred that the home was utilized primarily as a place of worship and, because the Michael children read their bibles and study books every day, a place of religious instruction.
On June 26, 2007, the Church's Treasurer, Marc Geissler, notified the Village that the Church had obtained ownership of the property and was applying for a Non-Homestead Property Tax Exemption. Irvin (the Village Administrator) wrote a letter to the Lake County Review Board on the Village's behalf opposing the exemption. Irvin and Nellessen (the Building Code Supervisor) then engaged in ex parte communications with the Board to oppose the exemption, at least in part because of the Michaels' Armenian Orthodox faith. On February 29, 2008, the Lake County Review Board denied the exemption. On March 13, 2008, the Church filed a petition with the Illinois Department of Revenue seeking further review. On June 12, 2008, Hamer (the Department's Director) issued the Church a tax exemption. Doc. 58 at 3.
The individual village defendants then began a campaign to drive the Church out of existence and to reverse the exemption. On June 20, 2008, Irvin contacted Senator Garrett, whose district encompasses Lake Bluff, asking for help in reversing the exemption. Irvin also instructed the Village police to conduct surveillance of the Michaels' home to determine if religious services actually were being conducted. On Sundays, police cars and fire trucks (with sirens on) would drive up the Michaels' driveway.
In addition, the Village issued a Notice of Zoning Violation to the Michaels for operating a church in an area zoned for residential use. Nellessen and a Village police officer delivered the Notice to the Michael home. "It is believed," the complaint says, that Nellessen went to the back of the home, pounded on a sliding glass door, scowled at Susan, declared that she and her husband were in trouble, and mentioned that Susan's body language was indicative of culpability. Doc. 1 at ¶ 109. The Notice declared that a fine as high as $250 per day could be imposed for the non-zoned use, for a total of $115,000. When George saw the Notice, he sent the Village a letter declaring that all "public" services at the Church would cease.
In July 2008, the Village filed suit against the Church, George, and Susan in the Circuit Court of Lake County, seeking fines for the Church-related zoning violations. See Village of Lake Bluff v. Armenian Church of Lake Bluff, 08 CH 2706 (Doc. 30-5 at 31-54). On July 20, 2008, Nellessen delivered a copy of the complaint by, "it is believed," arriving at the home when he knew Susan would be alone, walking to the back of the house, banging on a glass door, yelling at her for taking too long to open the door, and threatening to take the family's furniture if they did not pay $115,000. Doc.1 at ¶ 127. Susan experienced an autonomic crisis shortly thereafter and was forced to take medication. George then authorized his attorney to accept any Village notifications or citations.
In the meantime, on June 25, 2008, the Village and the Lake Bluff Elementary School District 65, motivated in part by the Michaels' Armenian Orthodox faith, filed with the Department an administrative appeal of the tax exemption Hamer had issued two weeks earlier. An administrative law judge ("ALJ") was assigned, and Senator Garrett commenced her efforts to get the exemption reversed, providing Hamer with ex parte "misinformation" about the Church and the Michaels. Doc.1 at ¶ 105. Director Hamer relied on Senator Garrett's statements and colluded with the ALJ to ensure that the exemption was reversed. On March 20, 2009, Director Hamer decided to reverse the tax exemption and told Friedman (the Village Attorney), through an ex parte communication, to file a motion for summary judgment before the ALJ. Summary judgment motions were filed in March 2009.
On April 21, 2009, Director Hamer issued a "Denial of Non-Homestead Property Tax Exemption," which stated that he had reconsidered the exemption because the property was not actually in exempt ownership or exempt use. Doc. 58 at 5. On July 6, 2009, the ALJ granted summary judgment to the Village on its administrative appeal of the original exemption. Doc.30-2 at 2-30. Two days later, on July 8, 2009, Director Hamer issued a formal Notice of Decision adopting the ALJ's decision. Doc. 30-2 at 36-37. According to the complaint, Director Hamer instructed the ALJ how to rule, and the ALJ's decision, though dated July 6, was written after Director Hamer's July 8 Notice of Decision and then backdated. In the meantime, the church filed an administrative appeal of Hamer's April 21, 2009, reversal of the original exemption; the ALJ and then Director Hamer denied the appeal on res judicata grounds in light of the July 2009 decision on the Village's appeal. Doc. 20-3 at 42-48.
The Church (though...
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