BELLEVILLE — A commercial truck driving school claims its landlord attempted to illegally force it out of the lease agreement after receiving a lucrative offer from a third party to purchase the leased property.
Rock Gate Capital LLC doing business as 160 Driving Academy filed a complaint April 28 in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit for St. Clair County against Racehorse Investments LLC alleging breach of contract and malicious prosecution.
According to the complaint, Rock Gate began leasing a premises in Alorton from Racehorse on Jan. 1, to operate its commercial truck driving training school. Rock Gate alleges that in March, Racehorse received "a lucrative offer" from Pilot Flying J Travel Centers to buy the leased property.
Rock Gate claims the defendant began to harass it and tried to force the plaintiff to leave the premises. Specifically, Rock Gate claims Racehorse attempted to revoke its business license through the Illinois Secretary of State's office, threatened to remove the plaintiff's property from the leased premises, sent false default notices and sought a temporary restraining order to remove them from the premises. Rock Gate alleges it has suffered disruption of its business due to the defendant's actions.
Rock Gate seeks compensation of at least $30,000 and all other just relief. They are represented by Keith Allen of Mandell Menkes LLC in Chicago.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 21-L-0396