Maag Holdings LLC seeks approval of a class settlement against Wood River in a suit alleging the city violated the constitutional rights of residents by failing to properly inform them of grass cutting liens.
Maag Holdings filed a joint motion for preliminary approval of the settlement on Feb. 11 through attorney Shari Murphy of the Law Offices of Shari Murphy LLC in Wood River.
A hearing has been scheduled for May 7 at 9:40 a.m. with Madison County Circuit Judge Christopher Threlkeld.
According to a class action settlement agreement and release, Wood River “generally denies” the allegations that grass cutting liens were recorded without being properly served. However, the parties “determined that, rather than incur the expense and inconvenience of the lawsuit, and in order to resolve the dispute, they prefer to reach a negotiated settlement.”
The motion for approval of the settlement states that the parties have agreed to a class action settlement requiring Wood River to ensure that grass cutting liens are either personally served or by certified mail.
“The parties desire to avoid the further expense of litigation and to settle and voluntarily compromise any and all claims or causes of action between them, and that have arisen or that may arise in the future …” the motion states.
The settlement request includes a payment of $5,000 in attorney’s fees and costs.
“This amount will cover the cost of mailing notice, costs of suit and any class counsel attorney fee. These proposed payments and this settlement are fair and adequate when considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the value of the prospective relief sought,” the motion states.
Maag Holdings also requests an unspecified “substantial benefit to the individual class members, who will receive a significant future benefit.”
The plaintiff wrote that a substantial benefit is warranted because it is “unlikely that the individual class members were aware of the existence of failure of City of Wood River to serve grass cutting liens during the class period.”
Maag Holdings also seeks class certification for settlement purposes only with it serving as class representative. The class would consist of “all citizens of Wood River, Illinois that had a lien(s) recorded in the land record against their parcel(s) by City of Wood River and was not served personally or by certified mail with a copy of said purported lien(s) that was recorded in the land records against their parcel(s).”
If approved, the settlement states that a notice will be sent to the legal address on record with the Madison County Recorder of Deeds for the liened properties, notifying the class members of the settlement.
Maag Holdings LLC filed the complaint on Aug. 14, 2018. An amended complaint was filed April 30, 2019, against the City of Wood River, alleging the defendant recorded removal cost liens for grass cutting without serving them personally or by certified mail.
The City of Wood River previously filed a combined motion to dismiss through attorney John Gilbert of Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard PC in Edwardsville.
The motion stated that the grass-cutting lien was placed on the Wood River property under the previous owner "who apparently failed to pay."
The City of Wood River argued that it is protected from civil litigation by the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, including immunity from liability for libel and slander.
The defendant also argued that even if the lien notification did violate state statute, "as a matter of law those actions were not and could not be malicious activity by this defendant directed against plaintiff."
The motion stated that the plaintiff did not purchase the property until March 31, 2018, meaning the lien could not have slandered the plaintiff's title before it held a title to the property.
"Furthermore, because the lawn mowing and all of the lien filing took place when the property was owned by another, plaintiff could not have sustained any damages," the motion stated.
"Plaintiff is seeking to recover for activities and actions which began more than five years before the filing of plaintiff's complaint and all of the allegedly technically deficient liens for grass cutting were prepared and filed when the property was owned by another entity which plaintiff described in the complaint as either Earthly Interiors Inc. or Earthly Interiors Inc.," the motion stated.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 18-L-1039