Property Owner: City Sent Citations To Wrong Address, Tore Building Down
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man is suing the city for tearing down his building, claiming that he never got the paperwork saying the building was in code violation.
As WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports, Alfonso Carbajal complains he never received the city's building code complaints against him, because the paperwork was delivered to another Alfonso Carbajal.
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His building at 4020 S. Indiana Ave. was torn down with court approval when he did not respond to the complaints and failed to show up for a hearing.
The city's Building and License Enforcement division filed a complaint that listed seven counts of violations for the Indiana Avenue property in March 2009, according to the suit, and it sought to tear the building down.
A police officer delivered the complaint to an Alfonso Carbajal that lived on Rockwell Street, according to the suit, but it was the wrong Alfonso Carbajal. The one who owns the building lives on Paulina Street, and said he never received the complaint.
When Carbajal failed to appear or plead in regards to the complaint in July 2009, the Cook County Circuit Court issued a default judgment against him for receiving the complaint and not responding, the suit claims. The city was given permission to tear the building down, which it did following the July hearing.
In November 2011 Carbajal sought to vacate the judgment against him from the building violations, which was approved in December 2011, the suit claims. Of the original counts, only one remains to support the court's ruling to demolish the Indiana Avenue property.
Carbajal is seeking more than $100,000 in compensatory damages, as well as unspecified punitive damages.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
