Marengo

ZRFM Secures Injunction for Lake Zurich in Boundary Dispute

Circuit Court Judge Mitchell L. Hoffman recently sided with the village of Lake Zurich and ZRFM partners Kevin G. Costello and Carlos S. Arévalo in a boundary dispute involving land in unincorporated Lake County.

The 53 acres in question are contiguous to the villages of Lake Zurich and Hawthorn Woods. Each village had encouraged occupants of the land to seek voluntary annexation to their village.

Costello is the lead trial attorney for Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle, the largest law firm in McHenry County, Illinois. Arévalo is the corporate counsel for Lake Zurich.

The controversy arose in mid-2010 when Hawthorn Woods forcibly annexed the property even though the villages reached a boundary agreement in 1998 that prohibited annexation and the use of the unincorporated property. The agreement had been amended in subsequent years. Hawthorn Woods reversed its annexation quickly when Lake Zurich sought the intervention of the state’s attorney and the Illinois attorney general by way of a quo warranto action.

Hawthorn Woods tried to get forced annexation of the area again in mid-2011, but Lake Zurich filed a temporary restraining order in early June. Hawthorn Woods then filed a cross motion also seeking injunctive relief preventing Lake Zurich from moving forward with annexation. After the villages exchanged 6,000 pages of documents in accelerated discovery, a hearing took place on July 13. Despite efforts by the parties, settlement talks prior to Judge Hoffman’s ruling were unsuccessful.

Judge Hoffman granted Lake Zurich’s request for a preliminary injunction on Aug. 5. A status hearing in the case is set for Sept. 1. The attorneys for Hawthorn Woods, however, have filed an appeal of Judge Hoffman’s order.

Costello has tried more than 250 cases to judgment, including over 50 trial verdicts. The Cook County Jury Verdict Reporter recognized him in 1995 for being among the top 10 attorneys for achieving jury verdicts in Cook County the previous year. In addition to Cook and McHenry counties, Costello has litigated local government, personal injury and civil matters in Lake, Kane and Will counties. Since 2002, he has practiced law in Crystal Lake at Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle.

In addition to Lake Zurich, Arévalo also represents the McHenry County cities of Marengo and Harvard. He has handled collective bargaining for the villages of Lake in the Hills and Johnsburg. He also serves as counsel for the Woodstock Plan Commission, which advises the city on growth and development matters. Arévalo’s local government law practice includes municipal code enforcement, licensing and other transactions, condemnation proceedings, local zoning and planning, and home rule authority. For more on these lawyers’ professional credentials, please link to the biographies of Kevin Costello and Carlos Arévalo.