Lawsuit Information Lawsuit Update: Appellate Court Consolidates Wilmette and Oak Park School District Appeals
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MEDIA RELEASE |
LAWSUIT UPDATE: APPELLATE COURT CONSOLIDATES WILMETTE AND OAK PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT APPEALS(Wilmette, IL...) There are two recent developments in the appeal of the lawsuit filed against District 39 by Herbert Sorock and Taxpayers United of America (TUA). The original lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice on June 23, 2011, with the judge rejecting the plaintiffs' allegations against District 39 with respect to ballot language used in the April 5th referendum. The individual members of District 39’s Board of Education were dismissed from the case earlier on May 23, 2011. On July 6, 2011, Herbert Sorock and TUA filed an appeal and later filed two motions. One motion sought to place the appeal on an accelerated docket and was denied by the Appellate Court. The other motion, which the Court granted, sought to consolidate the appeal of the case against District 39 with a similar appeal in the case against Oak Park School District 97. The appeal also challenges the dismissal of the individual board members. Karen Donnan, President of the District 39 Board of Education, commented, “District 39 has prevailed on all of the issues at the Circuit Court and the same is true for Oak Park District 97. Consolidating our two cases will serve to move the appeals forward in an efficient and expedited manner. As a result, we did not object to the plaintiffs’ motion. We are confident that the judgments of the lower court will stand. The District has already spent more than $35,000 of taxpayer money successfully defending this case. The appeal means that we are forced to spend additional dollars that should be spent on the education of the children in our community. We hope the process moves quickly so we can put this lawsuit behind us.” On a related note, the District was recently informed by the Cook County Clerk’s Tax Extension Department that the voter-approved limiting rate increase will be implemented this year, as anticipated, with the new rate reflected in tax bills due this fall. |
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