21-Jul-19 – Comments made at a condo board meeting by a Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit attorney about another lawyer have led to a lawsuit by the lawyer against two KSN attorneys and three unit owners.

Robert Porada (left), a Chicago lawyer and unit owner at City Centre Condominium Association, was sued in 2016 by the condo association, which claimed he had leased his parking space to a non-resident in violation of association rules. Porada sued back, claiming the board and its property management company obstructed his ownership rights and engaged in “malicious and reckless conduct.”

That lawsuit was dismissed and Porada was ordered to pay the board’s attorney fees – but on appeal, while the dismissal was upheld, the order to pay the fees was overturned, though the judge did say Porada tried to “needlessly harass the defendants and increase litigation costs.”

The new lawsuit, filed by Porada on June 5 in Cook County Circuit Court, alleges that Kelly Elmore (right), a principal at KSN, told about 75 unit owners at a City Centre board meeting that Porada was filing frivolous motions intended to delay the suit against him and drive up the association’s legal costs.

He says Elmore also made the claims in a letter sent to 208 unit owners and residents in June 2018, and after that letter was sent, two unit owners, Martha Lavelle and Noreen Coady, sent their own letters to unit owners, allegedly repeating what Elmore had said. A third unit owner, Joan Jerabek, allegedly made false claims in person that Porada had refused a court order to pay money owed to the association.

Porada says statements against him falsely suggest he is litigious, frivolous, dilatory, sanctionable, that he disobeyed a Circuit Court judge and is an “endlessly time consuming” spendthrift and debtor with an unsatisfied judgment, lacking in integrity and ability.

Lavelle, Coady, and Jerabek are members of the condo board but Porada is suing them in their capacities as unit owners. He is also suing KSN attorney Janelle Dixon.