THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2006
Court: Baldacchino Filed Dismissal Appeal Too Late
By DWIGHT ESAU
Journal Reporter
Charles Baldacchino lost another major battle this week in his lawsuit against Park Ridge and PRC Partners.
It may be his last.
The First District Appellate Court of Illinois ruled Tuesday that Baldacchino and his co-plaintiff, Josephine Perry, filed their appeal of the Circuit Court dismissal of their lawsuit too late for the merits of their claims to be considered.
Baldacchino and Perry are both residents of Summit Square Retirement Home, located next to the redevelopment site.
The appellate court said Baldacchino's lawyers filed a notice of appeal on Jan. 18, 2006, more than 30 days after the Circuit Court's final denial of his original lawsuit. This violates Illinois Supreme Court Rule 303, the court said.
"We must be guided by Rule 303 in our determination that plaintiffs' notice of appeal...is insufficient to confer jurisdiction on this court to review the merits of the appeal," the appellate court said. "It is not within this court's authority to overlook plaintiffs' failure to comply with the Supreme Court rule."
In nearly 18 months of filings and rulings, all court actions have been on technical points of law. The merits of Baldacchino's claims against the city and PRC have never been considered by any court.
Baldacchino can appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, but since he has violated one of its rules regarding the appeal process, it appears he would have an uphill legal fight with the high court. Also, by the time the court rules on his case, construction of PRC's new Uptown may be completed.
Contacted for comment Tuesday, Baldacchino declined to discuss the matter until he talked with his attorneys.
Baldacchino began a legal fight with the city and PRC Partners, developers of the new Uptown, in mid-2005. He claims that the city and PRC violated city zoning codes and state laws in the public hearing process and drafting of the redevelopment agreement for Uptown. The city has responded that it did no such thing, and requested dismissal of the claims. On three occasions, the city was upheld.
Baldacchino's claims were initially dismissed because he had no legal standing to file, mostly because, one judge said, he moved into the Summit Square Retirement Home, located next to the redevelopment site, at the same time that he filed his initial lawsuit.
In the initial stages of this process in 2005, construction on redevelopment facilities was held up for a few months, but they resumed earlier this year, and are proceeding rapidly. One mixed-use retail-condo building is almost finished and will be occupied by several businesses by Thanksgiving.
Construction on the project's residential townhomes and rowhouses has been completed, and construction on phase III, which consists of several retail- condo buildings on the former water reservoir site at Touhy Avenue and Northwest Highway, began this past summer.