Plainfield mayor deposed in village lawsuit against his law office

Plainfield Mayor John Argoudelis was deposed Thursday for a lawsuit the village filed against his law office, which he has claimed is frivolous, vindictive and politically motivated.

The lawsuit stems from a 2018 dispute when the village alleged Argoudelis did not keep his law office, located in Plainfield, up to code. This was before Argoudelis ran for office.

Even though Argoudelis said he felt the village made him take measures that were unnecessary for a 2,000 square-foot building, he said he complied and spent about $15,000 on a smoke-alarm system.

“It’s frivolous,” Argoudelis said Thursday, adding that the lawsuit was “100% politically motivated.”

He has argued it’s unusual for a municipality to sue a local business or resident for not complying with a local ordinance, especially if they eventually complied. Still, Argoudelis said he made the upgrades to his law office in a timely manner.

The village hired the outside law firm Ekl, Williams & Provenzale to handle the case on its behalf.

Attorney Terry Ekl said Argoudelis did not complete the improvements in a timely manner even after months of extensions from the village.

“He should know that he breached the agreement (to make the upgrades),” Ekl said. “He’s got a bunch of excuses. None of those are valid.”

Argoudelis said he and the village entered into an agreement on the upgrades for his office in late August and had the upgrades done by November, within the 90-day window he was supposed to finish the system. Plus, he said, the reason it took that long to install it was because the Plainfield Fire Protection District told him to add more upgrades.

Argoudelis said the village is not likely to prevail and there is a “cost-benefit analysis” the village needs to do because the cost of litigation will overrun the cost in fees the village is seeking from him.

He said the village is seeking about $40,000 in fees, but the village has already spent close to $20,000 on the lawsuit. Argoudelis also took a shot at Ekl and said he was “only too happy to collect taxpayer dollars to litigate.”

Argoudelis added that unless a judge rules in favor of the village, he doesn’t owe the fines.

Former Mayor Michael Collins, who was still in office when the law firm was hired, has said it was the right decision for the village to continue the lawsuit because Argoudelis owed the village fines for his office not being kept up to code. He said earlier this year that Argoudelis’ law firm was “dragging its feet” to make the upgrades.

Collins openly supported former Village Trustee Margie Bonuchi, who lost to Argoudelis in April’s mayoral election.

Ekl said during the next court date Dec. 4, he plans to ask the judge to set a trial date.