Mother of boy slain in Plainfield Township joins wrongful death lawsuit

A mother of a Muslim boy who was killed last year in Plainfield Township has been appointed as the special administrator of his estate in a wrongful death lawsuit against the landlord charged with killing her child.

On Feb. 22, Hanan Shaheen was appointed as special administrator of the estate of her 6-year-old son, Wadee Alfayoumi, according to a court order signed by Will County Judge Ben Braun.

Joseph Czuba, 72, has been charged with killing Wadee and attempting to kill Shaheen on the basis of their Islamic faith. Czuba faces charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and hate crime over the Oct. 14 incident at his residence in Plainfield Township.

Czuba is scheduled to appear in court on March 7 for a hearing on whether prosecutors have received reports from a federal hate crimes investigation into the incident.

Shaheen’s appointment to her son’s estate was the result of a Jan. 18 joint motion between her attorneys and the attorneys for her former husband, Odai Alfayoumi. He filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Czuba on Nov. 21.

While Alfayoumi initially requested to be appointed the special administrator of his son’s estate, he consented to Shaheen’s appointment, according to the joint motion.

The defendants in the lawsuit include Czuba, his wife Mary Czuba and a company called Discerning Property Management. The company is also known as PM Property Management. Mary Czuba is listed as the manager of the company, according to Illinois business records.

Mary Czuba has filed for divorce but that case no longer appears in the court system, which indicates it has been sealed from public view.

The lawsuit alleged Jospeh Czuba wrongfully stabbed Wadee 26 times and Mary Czuba failed to recognize the threat that her husband posed to the child. The lawsuit also accused Discerning Property Management of allowing Joseph Czuba to have contact with Wadee while failing to recognize the threat he posed to him.

A law firm led by attorney Chuck Bretz is representing Discerning Property Management. Edward Anderson, an attorney for the law firm, filed a Feb. 20 motion to dismiss the company from the lawsuit. Anderson argued the company has no connection or control over Joseph Czuba.

“In addition, the alleged acts of Joseph M. Czuba were not reasonably foreseeable by any party to this litigation,” Anderson’s motion said.