T-shirt company still pursuing lawsuit against District 50
A T-shirt company is taking a new approach in a nearly year-old legal fight over what it claims was an unfair loss of school spirit wear and athletic uniform deals with Woodland Elementary District 50 in Gurnee.
Former school board member Kellie Pappas has been at the center of the suit lodged by Ink 'N Tees Inc. of Waukegan and its owners, Steve and Kim Stams. It's been alleged in court documents Pappas used her school connections to influence Woodland to steer apparel deals from Ink 'N Tees to a company employing her husband, James.
Although a judge ruled in September that Kellie Pappas could not be sued in her capacity as a school board member and dismissed the case, the litigation is back on with new accusations specifically linked to her time as a Woodland Parent Teacher Association president. Kellie and James Pappas declined to comment.
Woodland spokeswoman Carolyn Waller said the district's legal tab for the case has grown to roughly $25,000 since the original suit was filed in April 2016.
District 50 attorney James Petrungaro alluded to the expense in a statement to the Daily Herald.
"It's unfortunate that Ink 'N Tees and the Stams have refiled their complaint and therefore continue to force the school district to spend taxpayer dollars to defend a case that was already once dismissed by the court," Petrungaro said. "The board of education and PTA will be filing new motions to dismiss the case and are optimistic that the court will once again rule in their favor."
Attorney C. Jeffrey Thut, representing Ink 'N Tees and the Stams, said the amended lawsuit revolves around "a breach of the public trust in an elected official."
"If the public entities were worried about taxpayer funds," Thut said, "they should not have breached their agreements with my clients."
Filed in November, the amended suit names District 50, the PTA, the Pappases and Hat World. James Pappas is a sales representative handling at least 100 schools for Hat World Inc., operating in Illinois under the name Lids Team Sports.
Breach of contract by the PTA and District 50 are among the counts in the complaint, which seeks a minimum of $50,000 in damages. The sides are due in court Feb. 21.
The lawsuit claims Kellie Pappas was the PTA's leader in October 2014 when she met with Ink 'N Tees regarding clothing sales for the upcoming year.
Ink 'N Tees had entered into a contract with the PTA to be exclusive vendor of T-shirts, hats and other merchandise in June 2014, court documents say. Despite indications the PTA would take bids from spirit wear vendors in January 2015, that never occurred and Lids Team Sports received the contract, according to the revised complaint.
Kellie Pappas also used her PTA position to interfere with Ink N' Tees' ability to continue selling to District 50, according to the lawsuit. She resigned from the Woodland school board in July 2016, citing a move outside the district.
Ink N' Tees began supplying District 50 with school spirit wear in 2003, according to the suit. Ink 'N Tees also supplied athletic team uniforms in 2012, Roar program clothing in 2009, and nonathletic, extracurricular spirit wear in 2005, court documents state.
However, the suit alleges Ink 'N Tees' business relationship with Woodland started dissolving when the district agreed to buy athletic uniforms through Lids in 2014 and nonathletic clothing in 2015 when Kellie Pappas led the PTA.
Lids received spirit wear business for the district's Roar program in November 2015 while Kellie Pappas was on the school board, the suit says.