Attorney Maag
In a quest to recover the cost of a Granite City home Armettia Peach apparently did not buy, her attorney, Thomas Maag of the Lakin Law Firm, has turned to a higher authority.
Maag filed an appeal with the Appellate Court of Illinois for the Fifth Judicial Circuit on Sept. 21, asking that it reverse an Aug. 16 decision by Madison County Circuit Judge Andy Matoesian which voided a $104,259.17 judgment in Peach's favor.
"Peach prays that the Aug. 16 order be overturned and reversed and the case be remanded to Madison County Circuit Court with instructions to reinstate the judgment for Peach, as though the Aug. 16 order had never been entered," Maag wrote in his appeal.
He stood to gain $26,016.67 in attorney's fees.
Matoesian ordered default judgment in favor of Peach, and against Granite City, in July 2004. She claimed water leaked through a roof and damaged a house at 9 Briarcliff Dr. Her lawsuit alleged that the city improperly approved an occupancy permit.
According to county records, Peach paid nothing for the property. Records show that former owner, home remodeler Kevin Link, sold it to Chad Carpenter for $68,900 in August 2002. Carpenter signed the title over to Peach on a quit claim deed seven months later.
Last year, Peach sold the property for $40,000.
On Sept. 28, Matoesian will decide if he will reinstate Link as a defendant.