Judge orders village of Midlothian to restore water to apartment building amid dispute with landlord

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Cook County judge ordered the village of Midlothian to restore water and heat to an apartment building on Friday, amid a land use dispute with the landlord.

The judge in the case grew angry at times, calling the tenants caught in the middle of the dispute "cannon fodder" in an argument between the landlord and the village.

The building had been without water and heat for a week, prompting their landlord to take the village to court.

"It just feels surreal. Like, I can't believe I'm actually experiencing it," landlord Gnomon Johnson said. "But whatever I feel pales in comparison to what I feel for my tenants that live here."

Johnson owns the apartment building on 147th Street and Lawndale Avenue in Midlothian. He and his tenants filed a lawsuit against the village after it shut off water to the building.

"All of them are longer-term tenants. They all are lower-income tenants that don't have the ability to actually just pick up and just go," he said. "I feel terrible about the fact that they don't have water and children are suffering through Christmas."

Johnson said the village turned off the building's water of after he refused to grant them a permeant easement to maintain a new water system. Because the heat in the building also relies on water, his tenants also have been without heat for the past week.

"There are tenants that live here that rely on water, and their quality of life plummeted due to not having water, and we have a hydronic system here which means its hot water based. The city water actually provides pressure by which that water circulates through the building. No water, no heat," Johnson said.

An attorney for the village of Midlothian said they're in the process of updating the water system on their dime, but because the line runs through private property, they needed an easement from owners of multiple buildings. The village said all affected landlords except Johnson agreed to provide that easement indefinitely, regardless of multiple notices that they'd turn the water off without one.

Johnson said he was still negotiating when the village stopped the water, after he'd already granted them temporary access for two years to update the water main.

"He already granted a temporary easement, and he has a right to negotiate a permanent easement," said Johnson's attorney, Ana McNamara.

The judge in the case at one point asked during Friday's hearing, "Why is it okay to blackmail a citizen and an owner that unless you do what we want were going to cut off water?"

The village's attorney did not directly answer, and the judge rejected their argument that turning off the water was proper.

"The city cut off the water to these innocent families and used them as pawns in some sort of intimidation game with my client," McNamara said.

The village has been ordered to turn the water back on by noon on Monday, or face fines of up to $10,000 per day.