Edgewater condo association slapped with million-dollar lawsuit

Thorndale Beach North Condominium

July 24, 2014 – A condominium unit owner in the Edgewater community north of downtown Chicago is suing his condo association and its former president over claims he and his family were wrongly evicted.

Viorel Berar is seeking $1 million. His lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court on July 8.

Berar owned a unit at Thorndale Beach North on Sheridan Road for more than 20 years. During that time, he says Sigrid Ingold, president of the condo association for nearly 20 years, harassed him and fined him unfairly for violations he did not commit.

For five years, Ingold was also the building’s property manager, a part-time job that paid $43,000 per year. She claimed to have once been the director of Roycemore School, a private school in Evanston, but the school denies this.

When he could not pay the fines, the association sued Berar on September 28, 2010, for $5,846, and won. He was evicted on April 4, 2013.

For four days, says Berar, Ingold did not allow his family to re-enter the unit to retrieve possessions, including clothing, credit cards, and health-essential items. Doormen at the building were instructed to not even allow Berar in the building, even to just visit friends.

Ingold rented out his apartment for a rent so low, Berar claims, that it needlessly slowed payments to satisfy the judgment.

During most of this time, Ellis Levin, a former Illinois legislator and longtime attorney for Marina Towers Condominium Association, represented Thorndale Beach North. Unit owners complained about him, too, alleging abusive treatment, bills for services that were over budget, and reinforcing Ingold’s “bullying.”

Finally, in June 2013, Levin (left) and Ingold were both fired. Ingold was replaced as president and suspended as property manager. She was served by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office on July 15, 2014.