AOC, Jamaal Bowman, Ilhan Omar face class action lawsuit for Columbia encampment support

“The lawsuit claims the county used property tax deed foreclosure practices to take property value from residents, especially in minority communities, for more than a decade.”

"County governments across Illinois have been illegally seizing property value from taxpayers across Illinois for decades," said Daniel Suhr, an attorney with the Chicago-based law firm Hughes & Suhr LLC, which filed the suit.

“Imagine being a student anxiously waking up every day to check if you had class or worrying that you would drive to campus as a commuter just to see another day canceled. Or imagine you were waiting for a grade from an exam or needed to speak with your professor to ensure you were doing all you needed to get credit for the class or even graduate as the semester was winding down. These students deserve justice, accountability, and compensation for the financial and emotional damage inflicted by these illegal strikes,” said a statement from attorney Patrick Hughes in the press release.

The lawsuits, filed by attorneys Patrick Hughes and Daniel Suhr from Hughes and Suhr LLC, stem from a strike that took place in January 2022. The attorneys said the strikes forced Chicago parents to face unexpected childcare costs, take unpaid leave from work and cope with additional financial strains.

“To this point, there have been zero consequences for anyone who broke the law here, so can we be surprised at more illegal sickouts and strikes shutting down schools in Kentucky and other states?” Suhr said. “Students and parents deserve justice, accountability, and compensation for the damage inflicted by these illegal strikes.”

St. Clair County residents and a business owner who lost their residential and commercial properties due to unpaid taxes filed a federal lawsuit this month arguing the county owes each of them thousands of dollars.