Judge Agrees To Reinstate Lawsuit Against Evanston Alderman

EVANSTON, IL — The Cook County judge who ordered an Evanston alderman to pay more than $64,000 after she was accused of abandoning a home rehab job last week vacated his judgement and reinstated the case. Cook County Associate Judge Thaddeus Machnik last month issued a default judgement, ruling Ald. Robin Rue Simmons, 5th Ward, had to pay the full amount sought by Sophia and Thomas Jenkins because she failed to show up to court or respond to discovery in the case. The judge's latest decision, issued last Thursday, clears the way for the case to proceed next month.

Before missing missing deadlines in the case, Rue Simmons had parted ways with the attorney who had been representing her, Ed Mullen, citing rules allowing lawyers withdraw when clients fail to "fulfill an obligation to counsel and when representation will be rendered unreasonably difficult," Pioneer Press reported in June.

Rue Simmons said at the time she had "insufficient notice." After the default judgement, she hired a new lawyer, former 9th Ward aldermanic candidate and Evanston Roundtable reporter Shawn C. Jones. He filed a motion June 20 asking for more time to respond and the judge granted it.

Jones told Pioneer Press he was confident his client's case would prevail. In a motion, he said Rue Simmons will show that it was changes to the scope of work that had been requested by the Jenkinses that caused "any delay or increased costs," according to to the Evanston Review.

The Jenkinses filed their lawsuit in March 2017 alleging that her contracting company, Signature Construction Services did "shoddy work" and then "walked off the job," pocketing their money and leaving the work incomplete.

Their suit was filed the month before Rue Simmons' election to represent City Council, and the freshman alderman has suggested the suit was politically motivated and earlier filed a counter-claim alleging defamation in the case.

Rue Simmons said she has now "set aside time and resources to address this completely," according to the Evanston Review.

The case is next set to be heard Aug. 22 at the Skokie courthouse.