Lawsuit against Gotion to proceed

KANKAKEE – A resolution to the the Concerned Citizens of Manteno vs. Village of Manteno & Gotion Inc. lawsuit will not come anytime soon.

Kankakee County Circuit Judge Lindsay Parkhurst, in a 24-page ruling Wednesday in the 21st Judicial Court in Kankakee, denied dismissal on all but three of the 10 counts.

“We just had our day in court, but we’re going get another one,“ said Robby Dube, attorney for the Concerned Citizens. ”We feel very good about it. This is where we thought we were going to end up. So it’s a big win. It’s a big win. I think the judge’s rulings show that Gotion has a very, very high hurdle to climb to try to bring in these chemicals they’re trying to bring in."

Parkhust denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss on the plaintiffs’ claims that “Gotion’s operations will involve the highly toxic materials and create hazardous conditions which are prohibited by the [Illinois Municipal] Code.”

The court also denied dismissal of the plaintiffs claim, including a landowner (Brian Kovaka) within 1,200 feet of the property, alleging Gotion’s proposed use of land will violate village code prohibiting “any use that creates any external odor, smoke, dust, noise or glare or that involves any radioactive or highly toxic materials, as determined by the code enforcement officer.”

Gotion argued that the complaint was premature because no code violation has occurred. The court found per plain reading of the statute and case law, “Plaintiffs do not need to wait until the proposed use of the land commences to bring a lawsuit under [Illinois Municipal Code] 11-13-15.”

In two counts, the Concerned Citizens allege the Gotion plant violates or will violate village code by using highly toxic chemicals which can harm the public by causing birth defects, liver disease and other adverse health effects.

Gotion argued the Manteno village code doesn’t define the materials used by Gotion as highly toxic and the building and zoning director made an official preliminary determination Gotion is not using highly toxic materials on Oct. 3, 2024, in a temporary occupancy permit determination that was limited to four chemicals on the safety data sheet that are being stored by Gotion.

The plaintiffs argued the village code’s definition of highly toxic materials should apply to the materials used by Gotion, as outlined in the technical codes adopted by the village. The Concerned Citizens also said it learned of the temporary occupancy permit by a FOIA request.

The court denied Gotion’s motion to dismiss on those two counts, regarding violation of the Illinois Municipal Code (11-13-15).

“The court finds the allegations when considered in a light most favorable to the plaintiff are sufficient to state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted because the complaint contains a set of allege facts if proven would entitle plaintiff to recovery.”

Dube added that the village was saying that “you can have your day in court” on the definition of highly toxic chemicals.

“And the judge said, ‘Well, I’m the one who gets to decide if these are highly toxic,’ and based on all the studies we submitted, again, Gotion, you have a really hard road ahead of you,” he said. “It’s what we’ve been saying from the very beginning, from the rezoning hearing over two years ago to now, and it’s coming to fruition.”

The Concerned Citizens of Manteno, the plaintiffs, had filed suit in December 2023 regarding Manteno’s rezoning of the then-proposed lithium battery factory at the former Kmart distribution center at 333 S. Spruce St. in Manteno for Gotion, a Chinese manufacturer. Gotion and the Village of Manteno are the defendants.

The court also denied the claim by the village and Gotion that the complaint was not plain and concise.

The court granted the defendants 45 days to answer.

“Our answers will be filed by that date, and then we’ll set a case management order with such as discovery, written discovery, by this dates, depositions by the state, that type of thing,” said Joe Cainkar, attorney for the village of Manteno. “We’ll kind of set a schedule for the case going forward.”

The next court date in the lawsuit is set for 9 a.m. July 9 in Parkhurst’s courtroom.

The court granted the village and Gotion’s motion to dismiss with prejudice on the count of spot zoning. It also dismissed the complaint with prejudice on the count of illegal contract zoning.

Spot zoning is defined as “the application of zoning to a specific parcel of land within a larger zoned area when the reclassification is not in harmony with the comprehensive zoning plan.” In other words, the area around the Gotion plant has a mixed use of zoning.

The court ruled: “Plaintiffs failed to allege facts demonstrating a homogenous zoning pattern around the rezoned property, which is necessary to support a spot zoning claim.”

Contract zoning occurs when a municipality contracts away its zoning authority in exchange for benefits that have no bearing on the merits, under Illinois law. The court dismissed with prejudice as the “Plaintiff failed to allege sufficient facts to support a claim for illegal contract zoning ...”

The court also dismissed the count that the rezoning violated the Legislative Act by rezoning the Gotion property from light industrial to heavy industrial.

Previsously, on Sept. 30, 2024, Judge Parkhurst ruled in favor of the defendants to dismiss the case without prejudice, according to court documents. By ruling without prejudice the plaintiffs were able to file an amended complaint within 45 days.

The defendants then filed again to dismiss the amended case on Dec. 30, 2024. Both the Village of Manteno and Gotion filed separate motions to dismiss the case.