Judge's ruling 'narrows battlefield' in District 204 court case

A DuPage County circuit judge has "narrowed the battlefield" in the legal tussle between the Brodie trust and Indian Prairie Unit District 204.

Judge Kenneth Popejoy Wednesday dismissed claims by the Brodie trust that it should be compensated for a reduction in value of its 55-acre parcel and the alleged $2.5 million in damages to the adjacent land a jury had ordered the school district to pay if it purchased the property.

The district, which includes portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield, owns 25 acres of the Brach-Brodie site at 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora, and intended to purchase an additional 55 acres for the 3,000-student Metea Valley High School.

Those plans fell through last September, however, when a jury set the price of the land at $31 million - about $17 million more than the district anticipated. The district later abandoned its pursuit of the Brach-Brodie land and instead bought a site along Eola Road for $19 million.

Popejoy also dismissed the trust's claim that it is owed damages due to the loss of a $40.2 million contract it had with the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust.

That group planned to purchase 71 additional acres at the site with the understanding it would work out issues such as shared stormwater detention and sewer and water facilities with District 204.

In his ruling, Popejoy stated he believed the claims belong attached to the current condemnation case being heard by Associate Judge Dorothy French.

In the condemnation case, the trust is attempting to recover costs, expenses and attorneys fees it spent to defend the district's condemnation of the lot.

"This ruling has real meaning," school district attorney Michael Scotti said. "If they want to continue to come after us for those claims. they'll have to do it in the condemnation case. I believe they'll have a difficult time doing that so late in the game."

Trust attorney Steve Helm disagreed, saying he intends to go before French as soon as possible to have the claims added to the original suit.

"It's really just a matter of consolidating the cases before we move forward," Helm said. "Judge Popejoy said he thinks our claims belong there, so that's where we'll file them."